The Marvelous Spider-Man
by jtrichard28
Summary: Look, it's Spider-Man. If you've seen the movies or read the comics you know the important details, and even if you haven't you probably already know about the radioactive spider that gives Peter Parker his powers. If you want know what's different about this version of the story then you'll have to read it. I'd tell you, but I hate spoilers, so read on, and I hope you enjoy.
1. Chapter 1

Author's notes: This is just my take the Spider-Man origin story. Much in the same way the original _Spider-Man_ movie could be Sam Raimi's take on the story or the _Spectacular Spider-man_ TV show could be another, this is my own (hopefully) original take. Also please note that while Dr. Connors appears in the first chapter The Lizard is not the villain in this story. He's really here as an Easter Egg for now. Anyway, without further ado, I present my take on the _Spider-Man_ story.

Enjoy!

The Marvelous Spider-Man

By

Jason Richard

"Ugh, I hate spiders," said Gwen Stacey to Peter Park, though neither of them knew just how ironic those words would be in a few minutes.

In his mind Peter, a skinny fifteen year old in a white shirt, jeans, and glasses, looked at the spider on the wall, wondering just how it had gotten inside. Their class was having a field trip in a laboratory at Oscorp. He thought, _Phidippus audax, a common jumping spider in North America_. However, what he said to Gwen was, "You'd better keep your distance then. He's a jumper."

Gwen, a pretty, blue eyed, curly haired blonde in jeans and a blue shirt, immediately moved away, making 'eww' noises.

"Gee Pete," said Harry Osborn, a short red haired and freckled kid. "That was kind of mean."

"What?" said Peter innocently. "Just giving her fair warning." And with that Peter took a picture with the camera around his neck. "By the way, tell your dad I said thanks for letting us see his lab for our field trip."

"I will," said Harry. "If he's home tonight."

In the white walled laboratory filled with all sorts of scientific equipment, including a giant laser in the back, Dr. Connors* paced back and forth talking to a crowd of students. Dr. Connors was a middle aged man with a pleasant demeanor, and was very enthusiastic about the new science he was presenting. The most striking thing about him, however, was that he had an arm missing, cut off at the elbow, and you could tell because his left sleeve hung too loosely for something to be there. However, he didn't mention it or say how he got it. He just talked about science, a very weird kind of science.

Dr. Connors said, "Neogenics is the science of taking the genetic traits from one species and applying them to another. One example is if we gave a cat a fish's ability to breathe underwater. That's an extreme case however. A better example would be if we gave a human being a lizard's ability to regrow a limb." He waved his stub of an arm. "Probably wishful thinking on my part though."

The class actually laughed as Dr. Connors inserted a small test tube into the side of the machine.

"This device, the Neogenic Transmitter, uses real samples the DNA of one species and applies it to another. However, simply taking genetic samples and injecting them into another host causes certain problems, so the Neogenic transmitter doesn't do that. Instead it uses a process called Eugenic Transcription. Would anyone like to venture a guess as to what that means?"

Peter's hand went up.

"It's like a copy machine," he said. "You use one DNA sequence as a base and alter the DNA of the target to match. That way you give the target the genetic traits you want but only with material already present inside the targets body. Just like a copy machine you still have the original DNA strands when you're done."

"That is absolutely correct. Well done. The radiation in the first machine is shaped by the DNA samples we give it and then used to bombard the DNA of our target."

As Dr. Connors started talking again, Peter felt pleased with himself, until he felt a balled up piece of paper hit him in the face. He looked over and saw Flash Thompson, a big guy and star of their high school football team. There he was in his sports jacket mouthing the word 'nerd' and laughing quietly with the other football players.

"What do they think is so funny?" said Peter.

Gwen put her hand on his shoulder. "Just ignore them."

Peter sighed, while Harry fidgeted at the sight of Flash.

On a screen in the back it showed an amoeba, an organism that looked like a bunch of link sausages, and another organism that was in-between, made of individual links but transparent like an amoeba.

Peter took another picture.

Dr. Connors talked some more about how They could only apply Neogenics to microscopic organisms at the moment, and in the meantime that same spider which had grossed out Gwen had climbed to the roof, discreetly lowering itself via webbing onto that very laser. It then climbed inside a crevice just as Dr. Connors, typing at a computer terminal, turned the machine on while pointing it at a petri dish. It made a sound like something whirring as it moved.

The device hummed and glowed with a green light, and it shot radiation at the petri dish. Peter grinned, impressed. Of course he wasn't just impressed with a light show; he was impressed because he understood the process it was catalyzing.

Thought the light show did make another good picture.

"Hey Harry," said Peter. "Is that cool or…" but he stopped. Harry was avoiding someone's gaze. Specifically Flash Thompson's gaze. Flash glared at Harry while cracking his knuckles.

As the flashing ended, the little jumping spider, now filled with radiation, jumped out of the machine to a student's hat, then to a backpack and to other things, working its way towards the back of the room, landing on Peter's sleeve.

"Harry?" said Peter. "Did Flash beat you up again?"

"No," said Harry timidly. "I just gave him my money."

Gwen looked over with a fierce look in her eyes. "What was that?" she said. "He's still hassling you?"

One nervous look from Harry was all she needed to turn and face flash, only for Peter to get in her way.

"Get out of my way Peter," she said, glaring. "He wants to date me, he won't hit me."

"No, he won't. He'll offer to stop hitting Harry if you date him."

"Oh Gwen," said Harry urgently. "Please don't go over there. Seriously, I can take losing twenty bucks if it keeps Flash off your back."

Gwen sighed, "That's sweet of you Harry, but I don't like him messing with you."

"Have you talked to your dad about this?" said Peter.

"My dad? Norman Osborn? A man too busy with his corporate empire to see his son more than five minutes a day? If at all? Yeah, I talk to him. He says I should fight my own battles."

Gwen clenched her fists. "I ought to slap him…and flash too."

"I know," said Peter. "But there's nothing we can do." He said that, but he actually thought Gwen was cute when she was riled up like this. "But believe me." He went on, looking at Flash, who was laughing at a joke with the other football stars. "I really wish there was something I could do about bullies like him," he said.

They stared at flash for a few moments, and then turned back to Dr. Connors, who was still talking. Peter picked up his camera to take another picture. At that moment Gwen saw, on Peter's hand, that same little jumping spider, inches from her own face.

Naturally she screamed.

"Spider!"

Every student in the room cleared from where Gwen, Peter and Harry were. Dr. Connors shouted for everyone to hold it several times. As peter dropped his camera he looked at his hand, and all eyes turned to him and his friends.

"What's wrong?" asked Dr. Connors.

"There was a spider on his hand!" said Gwen.

"It's okay," said Peter. "It's gone."

Then Peter noticed something. "Flash?" he said. As it was Flash was standing on a table looking at the ground nervously, his feet surrounded by lab equipment.

"Flash Thompson?" said Peter teasingly. "Are you afraid of a little spider?"

Flash tried to look cool as he stepped down. "Oh no," he said. "I just wanted to get out the way cause everyone else seemed scared."

"Really?" said Peter. "I thought you'd taken up table dancing."

Flash made a slashing motion with his neck while glaring at Peter.

"Alright! Alright!" said Dr. Connors. "Let's get back to my lecture." The class groaned and Dr. Connors said, "Hey! None of that!"

As everything quieted down Peter looked at his hand. The spider was gone, but in the confusion it had bit him. He was fine thought. It was just a little jumping spider. Bites were rare, but when they did happen they were usually harmless. His hand would just itch for a while. He'd be fine.

So he thought.

As for the spider, since it was struck with high levels of radiation, it eventually died, turning to dust which was scattered by the footsteps of the students as they left the laboratory.

**….**

After the bus pulled up to their school, Peter walked off with Harry and Gwen, suddenly feeling nauseous. The two of them, however, didn't seem to notice.

"Whoo Hoo!" said Harry softly. "Last day of school and the beginning of summer break! Freedom! Sweet Freedom!"

"Excited much?" said Gwen. "I know I…Peter? Are you alright?"

"Yeah," said Peter, holding his stomach. "I'm fine. I just, feel sick all of a sudden."

"You need help?" asked Harry. "We can walk you home."

"No Thanks. It's not far. I'll be fine. But…yeah…I'd better go home. See you."

"See you," said Harry and Gwen together while Peter left. They looked after him as he clenched his stomach, and wondered if he really would be alright.

**….**

Peter lived with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben in a little house just big enough for the three of them. It was a quaint home, the kind of house where you never expected anything to happen, but that wasn't the case as Peter knocked on the door.

Aunt May, a frail looking yet somehow elegant older woman answered the door, only to find Peter. His skin was pale, his eyes bloodshot, and he was shaking furiously. Aunt May almost screamed.

"Ben! Ben! Come quickly!" she cried as she caught Peter in her arms.

"What is it May!" said Uncle Ben, running in. Normally one would describe him as frail yet distinguished, but at that moment he was very concerned. He took Peter from Aunt May's arms and supported him, taking him to his room.

Peter barely knew what was going on, only that he remembered Uncle Bed lying him down and telling him that he would be okay. He spent the night in a feverish stupor, dreaming his friends running away as he turned into a giant spider. He passed the night like this, just wanting it to end.

**….**

Dr. Connors stayed up late, going over a few samples in that same lab. During his presentation with the class he had noticed an unusual spike the in the Neogenic Transmitter's radiation levels, so he decided to check every sample from that day.

He didn't notice anything strange, until he got to the sample that he had shown the class earlier. When he had shown it to the students it had looked just as he had expected, like an amoeba combined with Escherichia coli, the one certain students seemed to think looked like sausages. However, when he looked through the microscope and at the sample now it looked very different.

It was still transparent and came in links, but now each one had eight appendages sticking out from it. It was strange. He pulled away from the microscope and shook his head. The machine must have caused an unexpected mutation. It wasn't the first time, but he'd never seen a mutation like this.

It looked kind of like a spider.

He put away the sample in cold storage. Maybe he could get some interesting data on it later, or so he thought. For the moment, though, he didn't think much of the incident.

**End of Chapter One**


	2. Chapter 2

The Marvelous Spider-Man

Chapter Two

By

Jason Richard

Peter woke up with a headache, but otherwise he was fine. He didn't feel nauseous like before, which was an improvement. He sat up and looked around. His room was as unremarkable as the rest of the house with one exception. It was covered in a few ribbons, certificates, and trophies for high school science awards. The most notable being a trophy for the "Stark Industries Science Fair," which was shaped like a golden Iron Man. There was also a blue ribbon for a Reed Richard's sponsored science fair and a framed certificate for the one sponsored by Hank Pym. All three awards were for first place.

However, the thing that caught Peter's attention most was his uncle Ben, asleep on a chair next to his bed. The last time he had done that, Peter remembered, was when he had chicken pox.

"Hey!" said Peter. "Uncle Ben!"

"What!" said Uncle Ben, snapping awake. "What!? Who…Peter! MAY! MAY HE'S AWAKE!"

A few moments later, Peter heard Aunt May rushing to his room. However, he didn't just hear her rushing, he…felt her coming. It was like he could feel her walking from across the house. Each time she took a step it gave him a strange, tingling sensation that rippled through his body and gave him goose bumps.

It seemed to get more intense as she got closer, and it seemed like she had just come from the kitchen, based on where the footsteps were coming from. As Peter frowned he saw his Uncle Ben still waiting for Aunt May. He could even feel her opening the door.

It was strange.

Aunt may, however, didn't notice anything, and just smiled at him.

"Peter," she said sweetly. "How are you? Are you feeling better."

"Yeah," said Peter. "I'm fine…did you just come from the kitchen?"

"Yes dear…are you hungry? I was almost finished with lunch."

Peter frowned. "Lunch?" he asked curiously as he looked at the clock by his bed. It was almost twelve 'o'clock! How out of it had he been? Then he heard his stomach growl.

"I'll take that as a yes," said Aunt May, "I'll be right back whit something to eat." Then she left the room, giving him one more smile before she did. As she left Peter thought three things. The first was that he could still feel a tingling sensation with each of her footsteps. Secondly he noticed that she was moving and speaking more slowly than normal…of course he put that one down to just being tired after a long night. Lastly he realized that even though he had never known his grandmother or his mother it was almost okay because Aunt May was sort of like both of them combined.

It was comforting.

" How are you feeling?" said Uncle Ben.

"Okay I guess," Peter replied. "My head hurts, but I feel better than I did last night."

"Glad to hear it," said Uncle Ben, smiling. "You gave a real scare Peter."

"Sorry."

"Don't apologize," he said. "I'm just glad I was here when you came in."

As Uncle Ben got up Peter looked over at the picture of his real Parents, Richard and Mary Parker. For just a second he wondered…

"Something on your mind Peter?" he said.

"Uh," said Peter. "I just thinking…I wonder if my dad would have stayed up all night watching over me…if they would have taken care of me the way you and Aunt May do."

Uncle Ben laughed, just a little bit.

"Listen Peter," he said as he sat down again. "You were too little to remember, but your parents left you to our care in their will. At first I thought Mary always felt sorry for May and I. I could never give your aunt children of our own after all. However, I read what your father put in the will and it really surprised me.

"The part about you said, 'and we leave our only child, Peter, to the care of his Uncle Ben and Aunt May who I know will love him as much as we do."

Peter was surprised. "He put that in the will?"

"He sure did," Uncle Ben replied. "And we've been watching over you ever since."

Peter smiled. "I didn't realize he felt that way."

"He did. Believe me, you were Richard and Mary's whole world. Now, if you're alright, I should see if your Aunt needs help in the kitchen."

"I'm fine," said Peter.

Uncle Ben nodded and started to leave the room, until Peter stopped him.

"Uncle Ben?"

"What is it?" his uncle asked curiously.

"Thanks for watching over me."

Uncle Ben smiled. "My pleasure." And then he left. Peter watched him go, a smile on his face.

Then Peter once again noted how Uncle Ben seemed to be talking and moving more slowly than he should be. It was a subtle difference though, so Peter again put it down to fatigue. However, the tingling sensation that happened every time Uncle Ben took a step was a different matter. There was also one other thing that seemed strange to Peter. At first he couldn't figure out what it was, but then he realized that he had been seeing his Aunt and Uncle quite clearly, and had not put on his glasses. He looked at them sitting next to his bed thinking that he should be as blind as a bat right now.

What was up with that?

**….**

If Peter thought that tingling sensation was weird when it was just his Aunt and Uncle's footsteps it was really weird when he went outside.

After he convinced his Aunt May he was fine he went to meet Gwen and Harry, but was distracted by everything going on around him as he walked down the sidewalk of their neighborhood. Every time he got within twenty feet of a person, a dog, a cat, or even a car, he could feel them shaking the ground. It was like that sensation people sometimes get of their hand or their foot being stuck with a thousand needles at once, only this was happening to his entire body.

At first he tried to convince himself he was imagining things, but every time he felt the tingle coming from behind he would turn his head and sure enough something or someone was there just walking along.

Then there was the fact that things seemed slower, but Peter figured that, at least, was just his imagination.

Of course he couldn't put down his newfound eyesight to imagination. That was the strangest thing of all. He brought his glasses with him just in case, but he didn't seem to need them. Normally that would make him excited, but combined with the other things it made him wonder just what was happening to him?

It didn't take long for him to get out of his neighborhood and into the city, and the tingling just got worse from there. It fact it was starting to make him light headed and disoriented. He quickly ducked into an alley that felt quiet. It was between two older, run-down buildings so hardly anyone was there. It was a dead end but it didn't matter. Peter just needed to clear his head for a moment.

This was insane. What the heck was going on? Peter asked himself, but he had no answer. Absentmindedly he scratched the spider bite he had gotten the previous day, still completely in the dark about what was happening to him.

Midway down the alley he was feeling better, when suddenly he felt something. Someone was behind him. He looked around and sure enough there a man was approaching, and this man had a gun.

Peter started feeling lightheaded again. Just his luck. Didn't he know he wasn't supposed to go into a dead end alley like this?

The man, a gruff bearded man in a brown jacket, pointed his revolver at Peter and said, "Wallet kid, now."

Peter raised his hands, "Sure, whatever you say." He said. He hated feeling this helpless, but as far as he knew there was nothing he could do. He threw his wallet to the guy who caught it, opened it, and looked kind of angry.

Again, Peter noticed how slow things seemed to be moving, but he didn't have time to worry about that.

"Is that it?" the man said roughly. "Is that all you got? Five buck and no credit cards?"

Peter felt like he was going to faint. "Come on. That's my whole allowance this week, and no I don't have any credit cards."

"Come on!" said the stranger angrily. "You've got to have something!"

Despite his fear, Peter couldn't help but feel like this situation was ridiculous, so he said, "Oh right. Because every guy who stumbles into a back alley in this neighborhood must be rich."

"Yeah, well," said the stranger calmly. "Too bad for you."

With his new eyes Peter saw the man pulling the trigger. For a split second he was terrified for his life, and all he could think to do was to get out of the way. That's when something strange happened. Not only did it take a second longer than Peter expected for him to actually pull the trigger, but when he did Peter had managed to get out of the line of fine, but that wasn't all.

With a bang, Peter saw the bullet leave the chamber.

It wasn't slow motion like in an action movie. It was fast, very fast, and only a blur in his eyes, but Peter saw the bullet all the same.

Now both Peter and the gunman were equally surprised. The stranger, nervous, tried to shoot once more. Again Peter saw him trying to pull the trigger, got out of the way, and saw the bullet whizz past his face.

Four more times the gunman fired and Peter got out of the line of fire each time, and then the gun just clicked on empty rounds. The gunman was the frightened one now.

"What are you?" he said, panicking. "Some kind of bullet dodging freak."

Could it be? Peter asked himself. Was it that the gunman wasn't slower, but Peter was faster?

Suddenly the gunman was afraid and ran off. Peter saw him, still confused about what had happened. But then he started to think that he couldn't let this guy get away, and maybe he had the power to do something about it after all.

He took a few steps forward, as if to run after him, but then something clicked inside of him. At that moment it was as if he was acting on instincts that were not his own. He jumped, farther he knew he should be able to, and landed on the strangers back. When the man's face hit the pavement he was out cold.

For a moment, just a moment, Peter was thrilled as he kneeled on top of the crook. Something had happened to him indeed, but he couldn't be certain what. He thought about calling the police, but what would he tell them? Suddenly he was afraid again. How would people react if they knew he could do something like this? Part of him knew it probably wasn't the best idea to run, but the rest of him wanted to get out of there, so he ran as fast as he could.

**….**

Peter ended up in another alley, using his strange new senses to make certain there wasn't a gun wielding maniac there. He rested for a moment, even though he wasn't terribly tired. On the contrary, he felt alive, even after running so far.

That's part of what worried him.

He absentmindedly scratched the spider bite on his hand and wondered what was happening to him. He paced back and forth, thinking it over, but nothing came to him. Except…he was sick the previous night. Maybe that had something to do with it, or so he thought. But what had made him sick? He went over what had happed the previous day, but nothing came to him.

That is until he noticed a spider sitting in its web not too far from where he was standing. Peter looked at it, and then at the spider bite on his hand.

All of a sudden the pieces came in. The spider that had bit him was a jumping spider. Jumping spiders have good eyesight. Check. They're fast, strong, and agile compared to insects of their size. Check. All spiders can sense vibrations, either in their webbing or through whatever surface they touch. Check.

And Peter had been near a machine that emits radiation shaped by one set of DNA to mold another set of DNA. All of a sudden it became clear. That spider had been exposed to radiation and put some of it in Peter's bloodstream.

Peter leaned against the wall. Could it be that Dr. Connor's research was this much of a success? Then Peter wondered; did he have the other abilities of a Spider?

He faced the wall, his scientific curiosity coming out. He put his right hand against it and pulled away. So far that was usual. Then, however, he put his hand to the wall and concentrated. For a moment nothing happened, and then Peter felt a suction between his hand and the wall.

No way, Peter Thought.

He put his left hand on the wall higher, then the right one, then the left one again, and pretty soon he was climbing up the wall with nothing but the tips of his fingers…since his feet were still wearing sneakers.

So it was true. The powers of a spider had been passed to him. It was incredible! But then…Peter jumped down, landing with agility that was starting to surprise him less and less.

There was something else Peter needed to check.

**….**

Peter stepped out of the porta-potty, not certain whether he should be disappointed or relieved that he couldn't spin webs. Given where webbing came from on a real spider Peter decided on relieved. After all, such an ability would be pretty useless. If he had the choice to lose one of the spider's powers, it would probably have been that one anyway.

Still, he silently thought to himself that maybe he would find a way to use webbing in the future, though for the moment he wasn't certain how.

He walked past the construction site and back into the city. He thought about going back and catching that crook, but decided against it. He was probably long gong by now, and what would Peter tell the police? That he clobbered him with his spider powers? No, he had to keep this secret for now. However, the thought that maybe he could do something about men like him, or bullies like Flash Thompson for that matter, was thrilling. He was fast, strong, and could sense danger coming. Peter's mind was boggled with the possibilities…

Until he got a text from Gwen.

Then he ran to the mall as fast as he could. The text read, "Where r u?" and reminded Peter that he had promised to meet Gwen and Harry there. Upon discovering his new abilities Peter had completely forgotten. Oh well, he thought. He'd make it up to them later. For a moment he thought he might tell Harry and Gwen about what had happened to him but decided against it. He wouldn't tell anyone about his newfound powers.

For now.

**End of Chapter Two**


	3. Chapter 3

**The Marvelous Spider-Man**

**Chapter Three**

**By**

**Jason Richard**

**One Week Later**

It was pretty quiet in the city that night. Normally you had a few people lying in wait to snatch a purse or a wallet. There was at least one person with a gun trying to take advantage of some poor guy who wandered into the wrong alley. However, tonight there weren't any muggers. Things had been happening in that city for the past week to discourage them. A lot of people thought it was just a bunch of rumors making it to the supermarket tabloids, but just as many were getting confident they would be safe going out at night. After all, petty crime seemed to have dropped recently. It was only rumors, but people could tell that something was going on.

The tabloids read:

"Masked man hunts muggers!"

"Giant Spider Catches Crook in Giant Web!"

"Half Man, Half Spider Stalks the City!"

Whenever Peter Parker saw these headlines, he wanted to laugh. He stood atop a larger building overlooking the city. Naturally the headlines were talking about him, and as he looked over the city he wondered just how many people believed he even existed.

He looked at his wrists, adjusting the devices strapped to them. He was pretty proud of these little things. After studying his DNA in his room, using equipment left over from all those science fairs he won, he had discovered that his DNA had the potential for spinning webs, even though that ability had never manifested in his body. From his DNA he had created a formula for his own artificial webbing; a sort of aerosol fluid that hardened when exposed to air, creating a rope-like substance. Using parts he ordered online he built these mechanical web shooters.

He checked them over. They were in perfect working order, filled with a full cartridge of web fluid. He pulled off his clothes, revealing a skin tight costume underneath, and put them into a bag.

His suit was made of a material he had also invented; something that wouldn't stick to the adhesive in his webbing. A spider couldn't get caught in his own trap after all. The hands and feet of the costume were also designed not to get in the way of the adhesive nature of that skin, that way he could stick to walls as if he was barefoot and gloveless.

And Flash Thompson thinks science is dumb, Peter thought.

The costume was red and blue, with head hands and feet, a red mask, and a red stripe that went over his shoulders, on the top of his arms, and across the middle of his chest. Everywhere there was red there was a black webbing pattern, and everywhere there wasn't red there was blue. On his front, on a red field filled with black webbing there was a black spider sitting, and on his back in a blue field there was a red spider.

Out of the bag he pulled out a red mask with the same black webbing pattern. The eyes had two teardrop shaped pieces of plastic that acted as one way mirrors. He could see others, but they would not know him.

His web shooters were hidden inside his gloves, and could be fired through slits in the wrist. Overall felt he was ready to patrol the night. His weapons, the web shooters, were ready, he'd finally gotten used to his power, and his suit was complete. Going out in jeans and a jacket with just the mask didn't quite have the same feel to it, so he felt the trouble of making the suit was worth it.

Of course taking sewing lessons from Aunt May had been a little embarrassing, but a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do, he told himself. Over and over and over again he told himself.

Still, mostly he had been catching muggers found at random. After all this time Peter figured he was ready for something big, which is why he stood by his police radio listening for something, anything.

So when he heard the signal for a bank robbery, he couldn't help but feel just a little excited.

He leapt off the building, ready to try a new form of travel he had come up with after seeing a copy of "Tarzan," on a library table. Seeing a man swing from vine to vine had given him a really interesting idea.

For a moment Peter was in free fall, but then he stuck his right hand out. Using the two middle fingers on that hand he pressed hidden buttons on his glove and from his wrists came a 'thwip' sound, as well as his artificial webbing, which stuck to the top of a nearby building. Peter began to swing, and he would have run into said building if he hadn't changed his direction with another line of webbing.

It was a little tricky at first, but Peter soon got into the rhythm of swinging from building to building, and in this manner he made his way towards the bank. It was quite a rush as the wind swept past him. Windows and cars below him went by surprisingly fast. As he went, he couldn't help but express himself.

"Whoo hoo!" he cried just as he swung. "Eat your heart out Tarzan! Yeah!"

People were beginning to notice a man swinging around above their heads, but Peter didn't care. It was time that this Spiderman stopped being a myth. After people saw him now, and after stopping a bank robbery, Peter figured things would be very different in the city.

As for leaving his webbing lying around Peter had designed the formula to dissolve after an hour. He didn't want anyone else cleaning up after him.

"Well," he said to himself as he swung through the city. "This is one superhero who won't get caught littering."

He said nothing else to himself as he swung towards the bank.

**….**

Captain George Stacy stepped into the surveillance van and all eyes turned to him. He was a tall, blonde, middle aged man with a fierce look most of the time, though many thought he was quite pleasant off duty.

"What's our status?" he demanded.

"Three men," said one of the younger officers sitting at a screen with headphones on. "Wearing cowboy disguises…and one Indian. It's the enforcers sir."

Captain Stacy had heard of them. They were a gang for hire consisting of a sharpshooter, a martial artist, and a boxer/wrestler. NYPD had been trying to catch them for months but without any luck. "Hostages?" he asked.

"Twenty Four, sir."

"Good grief, that's as many as we have in our swat team isn't it?"

"Um, sir…" the officer said nervously, "The hostages are the swat team."

Captain Stacy frowned. "What?"

"Well sir, the robbers didn't keep anyone hostage at first. They just sort told everyone to get out of the bank. Since it was the enforcers the commissioner sent the swats in first and…well…according to what we've gathered one of the enforcers shot the swat teams' tear gas canisters before they had a chance to put on their gas masks. Then two of them, the boxer and the martial artist, got the drop on them while wearing gas masks of their own. The swats were disarmed and knocked unconscious before anyone knew what had happened."

"Fantastic," said Captain Stacy. "Just fantastic. Twenty four of New York's finest captured by cowboys and an Indian. Just great."

**….**

Montana readjusted the bandana covering his mouth as he pointed his six-shooter. He kept a watchful eye on the swat agents that he, Fancy Dan, and Ox had just apprehended in the large bank. Most of the swat team was still unconscious, and the one's that weren't were groggy. A few feet away several gas canisters with the heads shot off where lying on the ground, along with a couple of gas masks. Taking down the swat team had been surprisingly easy. Montana had the feeling that this was going to be an easy job.

Montana was a stern looking man with watchful eyes, and though his features were mostly covered he fit the role of a cowboy really well.

Ox was a big man with broad shoulders. He looked bored as he pulled money out of the safe, but he also looked mean. He also fit the cowboy model.

Fancy Dan, on the other hand, was a fairly short man with dark skin. He didn't look terribly fierce or angry, but he did look upset. He did not fit the model of an Indian at all as he paced around.

"Montana," said Dan, lifting his hideous tribal mask he was wearing. "Tell me again, why did I have to be the Indian?"

"It's your disguise," said Montana. "Deal with it."

"I get the disguise part," said Dan. "What I don't get is the Indian part."

"We couldn't find another cowboy outfit," said Montana, watching the swat team like a hawk. "And Indian fit the theme. You got Indian because you look the part."

"That's racist."

"So sue me," said Montana as he kept watching.

Fancy Dan walked away, irritated, putting his mask back on. Aside from that he had heard something, like a window opening. He figured it was probably nothing, but he'd check it out anyway.

He turned a corner and was out of eyeshot of the others when he saw, up near the roof of the bank, an open window. He eyed it suspiciously. There's no way the police had climbed up there. How would they get down again?

"Wow," said a voice above him. "When I heard the bank was being robbed by the good, the bad, and the ugly, I didn't realize the ugly was an Indian."

Fancy Dan looked up to see a man in a red and blue suit clinging to the wall…upside down. He was a little too astonished to respond immediately. This, of course, was Peter Parker.

"And really," said Peter. "I'm getting some strong smoke signals from you right now."

"Hey! No Indian jokes."

"I meant the tobacco on your breath. Do you have any idea how much you stink?"

"Yeah," said Dan. "Funny." Though secretly he was thinking that he could really go for a smoke right now. "Who are you supposed to be?"

"I'm the new sheriff in town, chief," said Peter. "You can call me Spiderman."

"Sure," said Dan. "But I'd rather call you boot stain."

And with that Fancy Dan ran forward, did a parkour move by running up a nearby column, flipped over, and kicked the wall where Peter, a.k.a. Spiderman, had been just a moment earlier.

As he hit the ground he saw Spiderman flip to another wall and shoot something white from his wrists. Dan immediately back flipped away as a web-like substance covered the floor where he had just been.

"Fancy moves chief," said Spiderman, impressed.

"That's why they call me Fancy Dan," came the reply as Dan made the move to jump up and kick again.

Almost in slow motion Peter saw through his mask what Dan was going to do. This guy, dressed as an Indian, was pretty fast, and obviously a very experienced martial artist, but with his new reflexes and speed Spiderman could see him coming. He shot some webbing at the column Dan was trying to scale, and his feet stuck to the marble. Being unable to kick off the wall he just fell down, hitting his head on the stone and falling unconscious.

"One down," said Peter. "Two to go."

Meanwhile Montana and Ox had finishing grabbing the money and putting it into a sack. They heard something off where Fancy Dan had. Montana looked at Ox seriously.

"Go check it out," he said.

Ox nodded and wandered over. He quickly found Fancy Dan hanging upside down by his feet. He growled deeply, looking around for whoever did it.

Thwip!

Spiderman leapt down and, swinging in a circle around Ox, tied the large man up with webbing. He landed on the floor, squatting, and cocked his head to the side teasingly.

"Hey big guy," he said. "I'd apologize for putting you in this awkward situation, but it's just too darn funny."

Ox just raised his eyebrow, and then started struggling. Within moments he had broken out of the webbing. He made an impressive sight, even though much of the webbing was still stuck to him.

Peter, as Spiderman, was impressed, and a little worried.

"Oh," he said. "That's bad."

Ox ran at him and punched, but Spiderman just stepped out of the way. Mainly staying on all fours, on some instinct that he still didn't understand completely, he dodged Ox's punches. He sidestepped and back flipped, but Ox couldn't lay a hand on him. He was just too slow.

Peter, behind the Spiderman mask, decided to test his strength.

He grabbed Ox's fists, and they ended up staring at each other. Ox growled and pushed, but Spiderman didn't budge.

"What?" growled Ox. "You have sticky feet or something you freak?"

"Yeah," he said. "That's right, but better sticky feet than squeaky feet."

Spiderman started walking forward, pushing Ox backwards and making his boots squeak across the floor. Ox looked down and Spiderman immediately jumped off the ground, kicked Ox in the head, and flipped over. Ox fell to the ground, unconscious, and Spiderman landed on all fours.

"Two down," he said to himself. "One to go."

Meanwhile Montana heard the commotion, and when it stopped he got concerned. He looked at the swat team, still incapacitated, and walked towards the spot.

He found Fancy Dan and Ox unconscious. He raised his pistols and looked around, only to see Spiderman standing not too far off, just staring at him. In-between two rows of columns it was like the two of them were cowboys in a Mexican standoff, just like an old western.

And Peter, behind his Spiderman mask, thought that was awesome.

"You took out my partners," said Montana.

"You took out the swat team," said Spiderman.

"They were out of their league."

"Likewise," said Spiderman. "Gee, you just handed me that one didn't you?"

Montana decided not to waste any more time. He immediately opened fire with both pistols, but Spiderman dodged. The bullets whizzed past him as he side stepped and flipped. Though he could see the bullets go by in a blur the bullets were still very fast. All Spiderman needed to do, though, was be out of the line of fire by the time Montana fired.

As Montana stopped firing he grimaced.

"What are my bullets to slow to hit you or something?" he demanded.

"The bullets are fast," Spiderman teased. "It's you who's slow."

Montana changed magazines and began firing again. Spiderman leaped up and swung towards him, but Montana shot the threads connecting him to the ceiling. Spiderman fell, and was forced to twist midair to get out of the line of fire.

As he hit the ground Montana kept firing, so Spiderman worked his way over, flipping. He got in close, grabbed Montana, shot some webbing behind him, and threw the cowboy into a newly formed web that was strung between two columns.

Montana shook the web for a bit and struggled, but couldn't break free of the sticky substance. He then glared as Spiderman, who squatted on all fours.

"Sorry pal," said Spiderman. "You may have been in a league of your own before, but you've been out leagued now…Partner."

Montana glared for a second, and then chuckled. "I guess so. Will there be more people like you? People that fast and that strong?"

"Why do you ask?" asked Peter.

"Well," said Montana. "That's just it. Your movements were fast compared to…say…Fancy Dan's. But compared to his moves they were also inexperienced, untrained."

Peter, behind the mask, couldn't deny that. He was agile and flexible, but most of the moves were improvised. Even so, he had proved that his speed and agility were enough to beat people like these enforcers, who had training but normal human abilities. So…

"What's your point?" asked Spiderman.

"You're new to this," said Montana. "So I'll give you a bit of advice. Watch out for guys with powers like yours. If one of them also has training like ours he'll be tough to beat."

Spiderman didn't answer, but just looked. He wasn't worried. It had been a freak accident that he had gotten his powers in the first place. The chances of it happening again were remote at best.

Still, he didn't have time to dwell on it. At that moment the police came in and stormed the building. A few of them came over and pointed their weapons at Spiderman. They were about to say freeze, until they noticed what he was wearing. They all looked at each other, a little confused.

Captain Stacy especially was confused.

"Officer," he said to one at his side. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

"Looks like a guy trying to be a superhero."

When the officers looked back, though, Spiderman was gone. Captain Stacy looked about, but couldn't find him. He sighed, and then ordered his men to take the enforcers into custody.

Meanwhile, climbing on the roof, Peter grinned behind his mask.

"The ninja disappearing act," he said to himself. "I've always wanted to do that!"

**…**

Outside the bank one officer, instead of going to the brightly lit police cars, walked away from the scene talking on a cell phone and undoing the buttons on his uniform.

"Yes sir," he said. "I believe our suspicions are confirmed. This Spiderman that's been popping up lately is the product of neogenic research."

Underneath the uniform was a business suit that shouldn't have fit under other clothes but somehow did. Even the pants came off with a single pull while he was walking, though if you examined them you wouldn't find any way to do this yourself. This man made it to an expensive foreign car, opened it, and put the uniform inside. He was about to pull at his neck when suddenly he gave the phone his full attention.

"No, I'm sure. His was moving way too fast for a normal human. As for the webbing it's artificial." He pulled a vial containing a white dust out of his suit and looked at it. "But it has traces of human DNA in it. Nothing substantial mind you. We'll need a real DNA sample to actually do anything but this is defiantly a neogenic mutant we're dealing with."

He listened, and then frowned.

"I see. That's fine. I can't capture this one on my own anyway. No, I'll contact him myself."

With that the man hung up the phone, put it in the car, and pulled away the mask he was wearing. His real face was bald, albino white, and had a very short, almost nonexistent nose. He looked around and then got into the car, driving away.

**….**

Peter grabbed his bag from the corner. On the roof of that building he got ready to swing away. Almost immediately the police radio starting talking about two escaped convicts driving a stolen vehicle.

He almost put down the bag.

"Alright!" he said, jumping to the edge of the roof. "I feel pumped and ready for some more action!"

At that moment the phone in his bag went off. Curiously he went over too it and looked. It was the alarm reminding him that his curfew was almost up. He rubbed his chin.

"Aw man," he said. "I forgot what time it was. Uncle Ben will kill me if I'm late."

Then he heard the sirens. He could even see the cop cars in a high speed chase heading away from him. He looked at the cars, and then at his phone, and made his decision.

As he swung home with the bag over his shoulder he told himself, "The police can handle this one. It's their job right? I mean sure, I'm fast and stronger and can dodge gunfire but I can't be everywhere. Can I?"

When no one answered he got a feeling in his stomach that he couldn't' explain, but for the most part he ignored it.

**….**

The next morning, the events of the previous night played on the news. First was the bank robbery, which ended pretty well and introduced Spiderman to the world. The next, however, was the car chase, which ended with a few cops being shot. One of them didn't make it.

As Peter tried to eat his cereal he told himself, "It's not my fault."

"Peter," said Uncle Ben from another corner of the house. "The bus is almost here."

"Okay!" he shouted back. He quickly finished his breakfast he headed outside. On the way he saw the paper on the counter. The Parkers got the Daily Bugle, and the headline read, "New Superhero? Or Celebrity Wannabe." And it went on to talk about how it foiled the bank robbery, but was strangely absent later, letting some escaped convicts getting away while cops were shot.

Peter grimaced and said, "It's not my fault."

With that he left, saying goodbye to Uncle Ben and letting his Aunt May kiss him on the cheek before getting on the bus. He looked back at the house, and though of that news report again.

"It's not my fault."


	4. Chapter 4

The Marvelous Spiderman

Chapter Four

By

Jason Richard

J. Jonah Jameson was happy. He was a middle aged, greying man with a small, thin mustache, greying hair, and a manically gleeful expression. Normally he had a sour, grumpy face but today was a good day for him. He was the Editor in Chief at the Daily Bugle, and his paper was selling better than it ever had before. Of course every paper mentioned that this Spiderman figure had proven to be real at the bank last night, but only Jameson had thought to mention how the masked man messed up. He saved the bank, sure, but then he was absent while two escaped cons escaped the police. Worse still these weren't ordinary crooks. Lonnie Thompson Lincoln was a notorious mob hitman, and Cletus Kasady was a homicidal maniac. Jameson honestly wondered what could have been so important that this Spiderman would call it quits for the night.

I mean what, Jameson thought, did he have to get home before his bedtime?

While Jameson was sitting at his desk, reading the Daily Bugle and congratulating himself for being so brilliant, he got a knock at the door.

"Yeah what is it!?" he barked, his creepy smile vanished.

He saw his secretary, Betty Brant, come in. She was a pretty brunette who worked there, though Jameson wouldn't have noticed if she was pretty or not. He was too irritated that she had interrupted his reading.

"Mr. Jameson," she said. "We have a problem with that…item…you wanted."

"You mean Eddie can't get that picture?" Jameson looked astonished and angry at the same time. "Goof grief. What do I pay him for? Certainly not for a tiny little speck next to a flock of pigeons, but that's what I get!"

"In Eddie's defense," said Betty. "Pretty much every paper has just a speck on the front page. No one's been able to get a proper picture of him. It's a shame though, just about everyone want to see what this guy looks like."

"They do huh," Jameson growled while rubbing his chin. Betty figured she wasn't going to get any more out of him so she turned and left. However, before she left completely she gave Jameson a glance. She then made a quick exit, for she did not like the grin he had on his face.

He had gotten the same grin when he heard about those escaped cons.

**….**

Captain Stacy frowned as he sat in the living room of his family's home watching the security footage from the bank. He saw the enforcers take out the swat team. It had seemed far-fetched before, but as Captain Stacy saw it in action he could tell that the enforcers were just really experienced.

It was this Spiderman he had trouble believing in.  
What really got to him was the way this masked man moved. It was swift, like an insect, yet fluid, like a gymnast or an acrobat. He had never seen anything that moved the way this Spiderman did. Of course he knew full well that people like this existed. Captain America, Iron Man, and the rest of the avengers…it wasn't as if this Spiderman was the first. The difference was that those other people always seemed so far away, as if their battles were on a higher plane of existence. Captain Stacy could honestly handle that. They had their battle in a larger world, and he had his part to play with normal crime.

But if people with these kinds of powers were taking care of normal crime, where did that leave the police?

It was at that moment that his daughter, Gwen, came in.

"Hey dad," she said, quickly noticing the wrinkles on his forhead. "Are you okay?"

"Have you seen this?" he asked her, indicating the video of Spiderman.

"Brought your work home with you huh?" she said thoughtfully, before taking in the footage. She grew wide eyed when she realized what it was.

"So…" she said slowly. "He's real. He's actually real. Incredible! Oh, sorry." She turned to her father. "I guess I shouldn't go on like that. You'll probably have to arrest him. Vigilante and all that…"

"I wish it were that simple," sighed Captain Stacy.

"What do you mean?"

"Well look at him," he said, pointing at the screen. "He's dodging bullets!" Sure enough, that is exactly what was happening onscreen. "Arrest him for interfering in police business? I'm just happy he's using these powers to help people rather than hurt them. But…"

"But what?"

Captain Stacy almost said what was bothering, but just shook his head and said, "Never mind. It's not important."

"Okay," said Gwen hesitantly. She turned to leave, but couldn't shake the feeling that something was bothering him, and that it had to do with this Spiderman.

**….**

**African Plains.**

**One Day after the Bank Robbery.**

Through the grass that came up to his chest a muscular man carried a full grown lion over his shoulder as if it were a sack of feathers. The man had dark hair, a beard, a mustache, and wore leather boots, lion skin pants, and a lion skin vest with a lion's mane around his neck. He also had a fierce expression, somehow made fiercer by the grin he had after this successful hunt.

He marched to his little straw hut and went inside. The hut was decorated with various stuffed animals; trophies form other hunts. There were three coffin sized boxes standing up in the back, and on the table rested a mask resembling a handsome man in his twenties.

He threw the lion on a wooden table and, without turning, spoke to a shadow in the corner.

"Well well," he said with a hyena like grin, speaking in Russian. "It's been a long time, hasn't' it Dmitri?"

"Indeed," said the man in the corner, also in Russian. "It has…Sergei."

The figure stepped into the light and the muscular one, Sergei, turn to look at him. Dmitri was a bald, flat nosed man in an expensive suit. He also had skin as white as paper and was rather slender. The two men stared at each other for a few moments before Sergei broke the silence.

"I see your condition hasn't improved," he said, still grinning.

"It's not so bad," said Dmitri coldly. "I may not be as famous as you, but this appearance has made me something of a legend."

"Indeed," said Sergei. "This Slender Man myth. Do you ever make children cry?"

"I wear a mask in public."

"Bah! How boring," said Sergei. "Anyway why are you here little brother? I thought you said you'd never return."

Dmitri shrugged. "I supposed I should have added, 'if I can help it.'"

"Ah! So you had no choice but to come see family. Eh?"

"Half family," said Dmitri.

"I suppose," said Sergei, not taking his half-brother's demeanor seriously. "How do you like my home?"

"Morbid as ever," said Dmitri, then he looked at the three coffin sized boxes in the back. "Didn't you used to keep those trophies out in the open?"

"I did," said Sergei with annoyance. "But I kept having to relocate. For some reason people seemed disturbed by them."

"I can imagine," said Dmitri, moving over to the boxes. "Lions, tigers, and bears are normal enough game, but a U.S. Marine," he opened the first box to reveal a soldier in uniform, just standing there like one of the stuffed animals. "A hit man for the mob," he opened the second box to reveal a black man with dreadlocks in gang clothes. "And an Al-Qaeda terrorist," He opened the final box to reveal a bearded Muslim with a scar across his eye. "Aren't exactly normal prey. It's not hard to see why these things would disturb some people."

Sergei grinned like a madman. "Ah! But men are the best hunt of all! What animals gain in their speed and their strength, they lack in cunning and intelligence! Men are the best hunters of all, and therefore the most exciting to hunt! And I, who have the speed and strength of an animal, and the intelligence of a human, am the greatest hunter of all!"

"Funny you should mention that," said Dmitri, pulling out his smart phone. "That's why I'm here. Have you seen this?"

He handed Sergei his phone, and Sergei looked to see the bank robbery footage of Spiderman. The more he watched, the wider his eyes and grin became. Soon he looked like a hyena ready to capture its prey.

"Incredible!" he said, astounded. "Incredible! Truly amazing!"

"I'm glad you're impressed," said Dmitri. "For my employer wants you to capture it for him. Alive."

Sergei looked at Dmitri suspiciously. "Does he now? And he sends you, Dmitri Smerdyakov, the great Chameleon, to entreat me?"

"Oh yes," said Dmitri stoically. "He has sent me to entreat you, Sergei Kravenoff, also known worldwide as Kraven the Hunter."

There was a moment of silence.

"You're mocking me aren't you?" said Sergei in amused disbelief.

"You were always overdramatic," Dmitri replied.

"Fair enough," he said. "But about this masked man who moves like an animal. What's to stop me from hunting him myself? After all I don't need money, and if I were to turn him in alive how could I claim an appropriate trophy?"

Without a word Dmitri walked over to a shadow in the corner, lifted up a rug, and pulled out a box hidden in the floor. Opening it he lifted out a corked vial filled with blue liquid and placed the box on a nearby table.

Holding it up he said, "This is yours I take it? You mentioned that you have the speed and strength of an animal. This is true. I've seen you in action. However, you didn't get that power from lifting weights, did you?"

"No," said Sergei, eyeing the vial hungrily. "It comes from that serum."

"Indeed," said Dmitri. "I believe it is derived from a certain herb that grows in these parts. An interesting little red flower actually. Its smell draws carnivores, which tend to fight each other. Lions, Tigers, Hyenas, they all spill their blood near it. When their blood is absorbed by the flower from the earth it can survive conditions that would kill most plants. As a side effect one can mix this flower with other herbs to temporarily gain speed and strength similar to that of the animals that spilled their blood near the flower. It's a similar process to the modern science of neogenics actually. Am I correct in this assessment?"

"You are," said Sergei reluctantly. "Certain ancient tribes would use the power of that serum to defeat their enemies. Witch doctors still sell it to this day, but even then it's rare to find…which is why I'm a little uncomfortable with just how quickly you located it in my hut."

Dmitri grinned. "Well then, you might be interested in my employer's offer after all. If you bring him this masked man alive he will make your powers permanent, and you will not have to rely on the serum."

Sergei's interested was tickled. "Really? The flower is rare as it is, so to not need it…How can I refuse? Is that how you ended up working for him?"

"What do you mean?" said Dmitri curiously.

"Come now brother," said Sergei. "A Russian spy suddenly working for a man like that? He must have made you an offer you can't refuse."

"Perhaps," said Dmitri. "But that is none of your business. Anyway, I take it you accept?"

"Oh I do," said Sergei. "Believe me I do. Just one thing, I want a trophy. So if I can't have his body, I will at least take his suit. The mask alone would be sufficient."

"I don't think my employer will mind that," said Dmitri. "We have a plane waiting for us. We can leave immediately."

"Good," said Sergei. "You're as thorough as ever Dmitri. I'm eager to get started on the hunt."

Sergei started to leave when Dmitri said, "Tell me Sergei; that mask on the table. That was my first one. It was with that very mask that I first used my skills of imitation to get rid of our father's enemies. Why do you still have it?"

Sergei stopped at the door and laughed, "Brother, don't you remember who gave it to you? It wasn't just your first mask, it was also my first trophy."

And with that Sergei left while Dimitri admired the face he had once worn as his own, noting just how well preserved it was, even after all these years.


	5. Chapter 5

The Marvelous Spiderman

Chapter Five

By

Jason Richard

Despite the bad news about those cops Peter was in a good mood by the time he made it to school. He saw Harry and Gwen waiting for him and made a decision. Flash Thompson wouldn't be pushing Harry around any-more.

If Flash made a move, Peter would do something about it.

Of course he knew he couldn't go overboard. He wasn't ready to reveal himself to the world as Spiderman…yet. That would require a more…festive environment.

He said Hi to his friend and went inside, watching for Flash. Any moment now that blonde jock would pounce and peter could counter pounce. Any time now. He was ready. He…

"You okay Peter?" asked Gwen?

"Hmm?" Peter replied, only half conscious that Gwen had noticed him.

"You're looking around like you're nervous or something."

"Yeah Pete," said Harry. "You're acting strange. Is everything alright?"

For a moment Peter considered telling them everything. After all, they had been his best friends since…well…forever, but something held him back. He wasn't ready to spring this one on them just yet.

Besides, on cue, here came Flash Thompson down the hall, and he was looking at Harry.

"Nothing to worry about," said Peter. "In fact, I think things are going to go great today."

As Flash walked up to Harry Peter stepped between them with a fierce look in his eyes. He clenched his fists, ready for a fight.

"Alright Flash," said Peter angrily. "Stay away from my friend. I can't let you…give him…a twenty dollar bill?"

Much to the surprised of Peter, Harry, and Gwen, Flash wasn't holding his fists up, nor did he look like he was about to rob anyone. In fact he looked a little nervous.

"Hey, uh Harry…" he said slowly. "This is that twenty dollar bill I took from you before…so…here."

The three of them held their mouths open for a few seconds trying to process what had just happened.

"Say what?" said Harry.

Flash didn't respond, but just put the money in Harry's hand. All three of them looked at Flash, astounded.

"What brought this on?" asked Gwen.

"Well," said Flash. "You know that Spiderman guy everyone's been hearing about?"

They nodded.

"Well," Flash went on. "He kind of saved my life a couple weeks back."

They were surprised, none more so than Peter, who didn't remember this at all.

"You see," said Flash. "I was on my way to a costume party, dressed as Iron Man, when someone came at me with a gun. It was then that Spiderman swung in and took the guy down. Man you should have seen him! He was dodging bullets! And he was taunting the guy while he did it! You know, 'missed me! Missed again! Sheesh what do you practice your aim with, a super soaker?' Hilarious. And when the mugger emptied his clip Spiderman took him down! It was…wow. Then I said 'thanks man,' and he said, 'no sweat dude. I'll take any opportunity to deal with a bully'"

Flash Thompson when from being excited to nervous again.

"That really got to me. I was the one being bullied there, but I'd been the bully too. It made me realize just what I've been doing this whole time."

All three of them were astounded, especially Peter. He had thought that Iron man sounded familiar, but he had never pictured it as Flash. Seriously, Flash dressed up as Iron Man? Tony Stark is cool and all but his image conjures up things that Flash just can't pull off.

Namely, intelligence.

Peter started to think that he might have let him lose his wallet if he had known it was Flash, but then he realized that this might never had happened. Could it be that Spiderman had really inspired someone to do the right thing? To turn from his evil ways and be a good person?

"Oh," said Flash quickly. "But I can't repay for all the rest of the cash I took. I already spent it. And don't think this makes us friends or anything. Right? I still don't hang out with losers like you and that Puny Parker over there. Of course I'm not saying you're a loser Gwen I…"

"Flash!" said Gwen angrily. "Don't even think about it."

"Okay," said Flash. "Okay. Fine. Still playing hard to get. I understand. Spiderman Rules!"

The surrounding students didn't join in to Flash's praise. A few were flippant, but most didn't seem all that interested in the subject. Peter couldn't help but be horrified to realize that Flash was his only fan at that school. Still, he couldn't' let his disappointment show.

Especially around Gwen. As the daughter of a cop she was annoyingly observant.

"Well," said Peter. "That was a fun detour into the twilight zone, but now that we're back to reality we should get to class."

Gwen stopped glaring at Flash in the distance and Harry stopped looking at the cash in his hand with a dumbfounded expression. They all got ready for class. Peter, as he got to his locker, realized that things were not happening as he expected them to. Not at all.

**….**

Peter sat through history class, barely paying attention. The teacher Ms. Harrington, a somewhat heavy woman with greying hair, was saying something about World War Two and how Captain Steve Rogers helped win this decisive battle…Peter had heard it all before. This was, after all, the review from last semester. Peter, at that moment, was wrestling with a dilemma that he felt was more important.

Should he beat up Flash or not?

On the one hand Flash had done some terrible things to Harry. On the other hand he was going to stop because Spiderman saved his life. Peter kept thinking…

He's turning over a new leaf…

But it's Flash.

He's not going to mess with Harry anymore…

But it's Flash.

He's less of a jerk than before…

But he's still a jerk.

But he's my only fan.

But it's Flash!

Peter had no answer to this dilemma. He really felt like just beating Flash up and getting some payback for his friend, but something held him back, and he wasn't even certain what it was.

**….**

He was wrestling with that same issue when he walked in the door at home. There he found Aunt May and Uncle Ben watching the news. As expected it was showing Spiderman stopping the bank robbery. There was no footage, or photo, or anything like that, but people knew that Spiderman was real.

And Aunt May was not kind about it.

"That horrible man," she said. "If I was face to face with him I'd slap him. Hello Peter dear." She then hugged Peter and kissed him on the cheek.

Peter, meanwhile, felt strange hugging a woman who wanted to slap him.

"Hey Peter," said Uncle Ben from his easy chair. "How was school?"

"Fine," said Peter. "Fine. Aunt May, you really don't like this Spiderman guy?"

"Of course not," said Aunt May. "How could I like some vigilante getting in the way of police work? Disgraceful!"

Getting criticized by classmates was one thing, but hearing it from his Aunt May made Peter a little sick.

"I guess so," he said. "What do you think Uncle Ben?"

Uncle ben looked up, thinking. "I think he must be very good at what he's doing. After all even I've heard of these enforcers before. They're infamous." He looked at Peter. "I'm not going to judge this man. I've never met him after all, but if I did I would tell him to be careful."

"About what?" asked Peter.

"Well," Uncle Ben went on. "Most people right now aren't certain what to make of him…or so I gather, but he's playing the good Samaritan right now. There are plenty of people who admire him. If he wanted he could influence them for good, or for ill. That's what we call great power, and with great power, comes great responsibility. He'll be responsible for influencing people for the better, and that's no easy thing."

Strangely enough, Peter knew he had already witness an example of that.

"Oh Ben," said Aunt May with a hint of affection. "You just had to change the subject. You still haven't told us what you think of the man."

"Like I said," replied Uncle Ben. "I haven't met him, so I won't say."

"Fair minded as ever," said Aunt May, walking over to him. "I suppose that's one of the things I love about you." And she kissed him on the cheek, which made him pretty happy.

"As much as I love to see you two display affection," said Peter sarcastically. "I think I'll go do homework now."

As his Aunt and Uncle sent him off he thought about what Uncle Ben said. Already he had seen someone influenced by Spiderman, and influenced for the better no less. If Spiderman beat him up for past wrongs it might undo that influence. Upon reaching his room he realized that Uncle Ben was right. He did have great responsibility. For now he wouldn't harm Flash Thompson.

But if Flash Thompson ever hurt Harry again, he'd have Spiderman to answer to. Besides, a better revenge would be to reveal that Flash's new idol was none other than the hated Puny Parker.

Peter knew he was had a camera then, just to capture the look on Flash's face.


	6. Chapter 6

The Marvelous Spiderman

Chapter Six

By

Jason Richard

Ben Parker furled his eyebrows, a sure sign that he was not pleased with what he was seeing. As May Parker watched him sit at the table looking through the mail, she knew exactly what the problem was.

"More bills?' she asked.

Ben sighed, "Yes dear, I'm afraid so."

May started shaking, "I don't know how much more of this I can take."

"Well get through," said Ben, standing to give his wife a hug. "We always do." He held her securely, yet gently, a gesture to say he wouldn't let her come to harm.

May sighed. "Are we going to tell Peter?"

"Not yet," said Uncle Ben. "I might be able to work this out. We'll don't need to worry him just yet.

He kissed her on the forehead and just held her, and she held him back.

**….**

Both Peter and Gwen had been to Harry's home before, but they were both still overwhelmed every time they went. However, while Peter was overwhelmed with giddiness, Gwen was usually just overwhelmed. He and his father lived on the top floor of the Oscorp tower since Harry's dad wanted to be close to his business. Once you got past the security and the elevator you reached the top floor and found a very luxurious apartment. The furniture was futuristic yet stylish, made mostly of black leather. There were a few expensive paintings on the walls, mostly scenery, but the thing that caught most peoples eye was the very large television and surround sound setup in the center of it all.

It was this that Gwen had been most overwhelmed by when she got there. Usually she was annoyed with Peter's praise of the silly thing by that point, but not this time.

Peter had yet to show up.

Harry had his homework ready to go on the glass coffee table, and even Gwen was ready. They looked at each other, and then at the clock. They had agreed to meet at four O clock. It was fifteen minutes after that and Peter was nowhere to be seen.

"This isn't like him," said Gwen.

"No," said Harry. "He's usually the first one here. Even I don't get here first and I live here."

It was at that moment that Peter walked in as the elaborate elevator doors opened.

"Well," he said. "I'm sorry I'm late."

"Where were you?" asked Gwen.

"I got…distracted…along the way."

"You," said Harry. "The straight A student? Got distracted? By what? Flying pigs?"

"Hey," said Peter, looking at Harry proudly. "Not bad. Looks like my humor's rubbing off on you. And no, I was not distracted by flying pigs. I was distracted by Spiderman."

At least it's partially true, Peter thought to himself.

"I saw him stop a high speed car chase," he continued. "You should have been there! He webbed up the hi-jacked vehicles and they were stuck burning rubber on the road but going nowhere. It was awesome!"

"Yeah," said Harry. "It sounds awesome. Now I'm a little jealous."

"Alright," said Gwen. "But don't let Spiderman distract you next time and let's get to homework."

"Sure," said Peter, not really thinking about his answer.

After homework they turned on the giant TV. They flipped around the somewhat five hundred plus channels that were available but didn't find anything to watch. Eventually, however, Peter saw the word Spiderman and just had to stay there. What he found was a news cast showing the police surrounding an old, run-down apartment building.

"Come on Pete," said Harry. "Let's…"

Peter shushed Harry and listened. Gwen looked at Peter narrowly, wondering why he was interested.

The newscaster said, "…Armed Gunman have taken several residents hostage. So far they have made no demands to the police or any city officials. No word yet on what their potential motives are."

Peter stopped listening. He knew what he needed to know. Now he had to get out there and save those hostages.

But what to do about Harry and Gwen?

He looked them over. Harry looked uninterested, but Gwen looked a little sad. He looked back at the television and it showed the cops surrounding the building. At the front, leading them, was Gwen's dad.

Peter understood in an instant. She was worried about him, and he didn't blame her. Peter had only met Captain Stacy once, but he was a nice guy. He was also a good father to Gwen.

Speaking of fathers one walked in that Peter didn't think so highly of.

Norman Osborn, Harry's dad, stepped off the elevator. He looked like an older Harry, except in place of a smile or a nervous shake he had a stern frown, as if the painting on the wall was two micro centimeters off center.

"Hey dad," said Harry nervously.

"Hello," said Mr. Osborn without even looking at Harry.

"My grades are up," said Harry hopefully.

"That's good," said Mr. Osborn, walking to another room.

"Peter's been helping," said Harry.

"That's good," said Mr. Osborn, almost to the study in the back.

"And aliens attacked while you were gone," said harry.

"Don't be sarcastic Harry," said Mr. Osborn, closing himself in his study.

Peter and Gwen looked at Harry with surprised expressions, while he just sat there nervously.

"At least he was listening," said Harry. "Do you mind guys? I suddenly don't feel in the mood to hang out."

"That's fine," said Gwen.

"Sure," said Peter, getting his stuff together. "We'll see you later."

A few minutes later Peter and Gwen were outside the building on the sidewalk, walking off.

"Poor Harry," she said.

"I know," Peter replied.

Peter really felt for Harry. In some ways Peter felt that he was the lucky one. His real parents died a long time ago, true, but Peter still had his Aunt and Uncle. Harry might have had more money, but all that wealth came with baggage named Norman Osborn.

Peter would take the poor Uncle Ben over the rich Norman Osborn any day, and couldn't imagine living a life where his Uncle Ben wasn't there.

"Speaking of Fathers," said Peter, trying to think of a way to get away from Gwen and to the hostage situation without raising suspicion. "Are you worried about your dad?"

"He'll be fine," said Gwen. "He always is." Something in her voice said she didn't fully believe that.

Peter tried another angle, one that wasn't just a way to get rid of her. "Maybe you should check on your mom."

Gwen thought about it, and smiled. "You know, that's not a bad idea. Thanks Pete."

She kissed him on the cheek and walked off. Peter stopped and felt warm inside. Truthfully though he only half understood why. The next moment he wondered what it was he had been planning to do. He knew there was something important that he…

The hostages!

A few minutes later he was in his Spiderman costume swinging to the crime scene. There were people in trouble and they needed someone to save them.

Those people were waiting for him.

However, not everyone was waiting for him for the same reason. One man, who stood atop a nearby building, hidden in the shadows, watched the hostage crisis unfold with a hyena like grin on his face.

"Don't keep me waiting for every Spiderman," said Kraven the Hunter, sharpening his bowie knives against each other. "I'm eager to begin."


	7. Chapter 7

The Marvelous Spider-Man

Chapter Seven

By

Jason Richard

Captain Stacy Paced back and forth outside the surveillance van. He looked up and saw that the building was very tall, despite its age, and would be difficult to attack if it came to that, but waiting didn't seem like a good option either. Captain Stacy had just talked with the kidnappers, and their demands didn't make any sense. The negotiations had started the usual way.

"Let me make this clear," the leader had said over the phone. "Send in any cops and I start killing hostages."

"Alright," said Stacy, trying to keep him calm. "I understand. No cops. Just tell me how I can help."

"I'll tell you my demands when I'm ready," and then he hung up.

It had been an hour, and nothing. Stacy didn't' like this. Their demands, or lack thereof, didn't make any sense.

**….**

The hostages, a group of people in the corner, sat shaking while the gunmen, wearing black masks, kept their assault rifles trained on them. The apartment was like every other room in the building, run down and old. Also all the windows were barred, which made it a good place to keep prisoners.

Or set a trap.

The leader stepped into the bathroom for some privacy and removed his mask to reveal Dmitri Smerdyakov, the Chameleon. He put his fingers to a hidden receiver in his ear and spoke.

"Are you certain about this?" he asked.

**….**

"Of course," said Kraven atop a nearby building. "When hunting, good bait is always appropriate. Hostages that need rescuing? He'll be here…" suddenly he made his hyena like grin. "Speaking of which, here he comes. Be sure to get everything ready. I'll be inside momentarily."

And sure enough Spiderman was swinging towards the scene.

And with that Kraven made his way down a nearby alley with some impressive acrobatic leaps, moving towards the building that the Chameleon was held up in.

**….**

"Roger that," replied Chameleon.

He put his mask on and re-entered the room, proceeding to have his men escort the hostages to the elevator. Meanwhile, right out the window the Chameleon could see Spiderman swinging towards the scene. As he got into the elevator he couldn't help but think that he'd like to see how this fight would turn out. At the same time he looked at the bared window that had been left open. As the elevator closed he noted the electronic device wired to the bars, pleased that it seemed to be operational.

The trap was set.

**….**

Captain Stacy watched as Spiderman swung to an open window the captain hadn't noticed before and climbed in. Captain Stacy thought that strange. Why would the suspects leave a window open like that, especially with someone like Spiderman prowling the streets?

Stranger still the hostages starting running out the front door.

Captain Stacy was astonished! Why would the gunmen take hostages only to let them go? He doubted they had given up when Spiderman arrived. It was too easy, and he wasn't ready to order the rest of the cops inside just yet…

And then it happened.

The open window suddenly closed, and sparks flew from the bars of the windows all over the place, making the cops and bystanders watching jump. Nothing seemed to catch on fire, but that wasn't the primary problem here.

Captain Stacy stared at the building, thinking. Could it be? Had they…electrified the windows? Is that why they didn't need the hostages anymore? They had pretty much trapped themselves inside with Spiderman, which couldn't be a good move unless…

The truth hit him. Spiderman was the whole point.

This whole thing was…

**….**

A trap! Peter thought from behind his mask.

He looked out the window, careful not to touch the electrocuted bars. He could see the hostages walking safely to the police. So, this had been about him all along. He figured it was inevitable. Surely someone must have an interest in his abilities.

The question was, who?

Peter got low, crawling on all fours and hiding behind furniture, looking out for any attackers. He didn't sense any vibrations through the tile floor, but he knew it was only a matter of time before someone came.

He crawled around a corner, looking into the kitchen. He crawled back, checking the other rooms, but found nothing. He tried his best to stay hidden, but somehow he felt like he was being watched. He crawled to the center of the living room and looked around, but there was no one to be seen. He didn't like this. He didn't like this at all.

Suddenly he felt a light tingling sensation. Someone else was moving through the apartment like he was. He was moving slow, so Peter couldn't pinpoint his location, but for him to detect such minor vibrations meant that the other guy was close. Very close.

Spiderman tensed up, squatting, ready for an attack. The next moment he heard something faint. It was as if someone was sniffing him out.

His whole body tingled as Kraven leapt off the ground!

Kraven almost pounced on him, but Spiderman leapt to the roof. The next thing Kraven knew Spiderman had leapt down to the ceiling with his fist raised, but Kraven just twisted with incredible speed, dodging the punch and grabbing Spiderman in a hold that even the strongest creatures couldn't break out of.

On the floor, held in a death grip by a Russian hunter, Peter thought quickly. This guy was 1) fast enough to dodge his punch and 2) strong enough to hold him. This was going to be a tough one, but he couldn't let it show.

"Dude," said Spiderman, trying to catch his breath. "Seriously." He put his hands on Kraven's arms. "That is not how you do the Heimlich maneuver!" Using the adhesive ability in his hands Spiderman slowly Pulled Kraven's arms apart. The next moment he used the arms as a springboard to flip over Kraven's head, landing on all fours and facing Kraven.

Kraven lifted his legs, twisted them and kicked himself up, spinning in midair to face Spiderman. He looked at Spiderman with a hyena-like grin that was wilder than normal. He laughed with his deep Russian voice, and Peter found it a little intimidating. They began to circle each other, Spiderman ready to leap away and Kraven ready to pounce.

"Alright Pal," said Spiderman. "Who the heck are you and what do you want?"

"Allow me to introduce myself," said Kraven, still circling. "I am the most famous big game hunter in the world, Sergei Kravenoff!"

"Oh really?" said Spiderman. "You're named Sergei and you want bug repellent?"

Kraven gave him a blank look. "What?" he said.

"Well," said Spiderman. "You said you were cravin off!"

"Amusing," said Kraven Dryly. "But I'm here for a different reason."

"I get that," said Spiderman. "But what does a big game hunter want with me? I'm a person. You can't be hunting me like some wild animal can you?"

"Why not?" said Kraven, amused. "Men have intelligence that animals lack. It makes for a more…unpredictable hunt."

"Wait," said Spiderman, disgusted. "You've hunted people before? That's sick!"

"Oh come now," said Kraven. "Aren't humans just another part of the animal kingdom?"

"That's what my science teacher said," said Spiderman, then he grumbled. "Though after running into you I might have to have a little chat with him about it."

"You don't believe him?" Kraven teased.

"Well," said Spiderman. "I figured it was baloney when I saw monkeys throwing poop at the zoo. I mean C'mon? Who wants to be a part of that kingdom? Right? Of course if you _do_ want a kingdom where your fellow citizens throw poop at people, who am I to judge?"

Spiderman tilted his head teasingly and Kraven frowned.

"Well," said Kraven with a growl. "If I had the choice I'd take that tongue of yours as a trophy, just for laughs, but no matter." Kraven growled again, this time gleefully. He crouched like a lion about to pounce. "You should prepare yourself!"

He leapt at Spiderman, who leapt out of the way. Spiderman found himself on the defensive, leaping onto furniture, to the walls, to the ceiling even to escape this madman. From the wall Spiderman tried another punch, but had to flip away when Kraven went for another hold. Spiderman had to crawl to the ceiling and retreat to the door. The way he moved wasn't just fast, it reminded Peter of martial arts movies somehow. As he crawled Peter mentally kicked himself. This was exactly the type of person that Montana guy was talking about, and Peter couldn't think of a clear way to beat him.

This Kraven guy had him on the defensive.

Spiderman leapt to the ground, burst through the door and went into the hallway, spraying webbing at the doorframe to slow Kraven down. As Spiderman leapt up to the ceiling he crawled away as fast as he could. He looked back to see Kraven cut through the web with bowie knives, jump over the remaining webbing, and continue the pursuit.

Doesn't this guy ever quit? Peter thought.

Spiderman dropped, turned, and swung backwards, alternating his hand between swinging and filling the hallway with webbing. Kraven dodged, ducked, and flipped over the webbing when he wasn't cutting it with his bowie knives. He even wall ran like those parkour guys Peter had seen on youtube. As impressed as Peter was, though, he knew that this was bad for him.

He turned and picked up his swinging speed. He saw the stairs to his right and swung for them, only to have Kraven grab him from behind. They hurtled forward, crashing through the wooden railing and falling between the circular stairs.

"Aw C'mon!" said Spiderman. "I know you like bear hugs but this is not the right time!"

Spiderman managed to pull Kraven off, but Kraven held on to Spiderman wrist, and as Spiderman tried to punch but got his other wrist caught.

Spiderman released his webbing, hitting Kraven in the face and blinding him, but Kraven held on with a vice like grip. Kraven pulled Spiderman closer and head butted him. Dazed, but only for a second, Peter raised his feet and kicked Kraven in the face, forcing him to let go. Spiderman shot webbing to either side of him and stopped his fall…

Just in time.

Kraven landed, making a crater in the wood floor. The railing that had broken off hit the ground hard as well, and Spiderman just barely stopped his fall before springing back up on the web. He stood on the railing of the stairs and looked down. Kraven was getting up.

Immediately Spiderman starting jumping up, lining the stairs with webbing. When he reached the top he paused, looking down at the now standing Kraven. Peter realized that this wouldn't stop the guy for long. He had to find a way out of there, and fast.

Peter broke into the nearest apartment he could find, crashing through the door. He searched but the windows were barred like the others and had that electric device on the windows, but he had expected that. What he needed for tools, and after searching the apartment found a toolbox. He leapt over with it and, fitting his already gloved hands with rubber gloves, started messing with the device.

It made sparks as he messed with it.

**….**

Kraven got up groggily. He stumbled around for a few seconds before pulling the webbing off of his face. He wiped it off on the wall and looked up to see the stairway blocked off by webbing. It would take forever to go up that way, and his nose told him that Spiderman was up there.

He growled angrily. He had been enjoying the hunt at first, but this little setback was not pleasant. As he walked to the elevator, he figured it was time to end this. It pained him to think that he had to take this one in alive. If he had been allowed to kill him it would have been over much sooner.

But Kraven didn't want to rely on the serum. He would have to take that substance again once this was over. The thought of that kept him in check.

He reached the elevator and forced the doors open. Inside the compartment he jumped up, broke off the emergency hatch, and climbed into the shaft. There he shinnied up the cable towards the top floor.

**….**

Sparks flew off the machine as the screwdriver touched it. It wasn't meant to touch metal that was electrified. Spiderman had to keep contact, though; otherwise he'd never turn the device off. With all the sparks flying Peter felt like he was working on a small car. Still, he had to keep working. Kraven would be back any minute.

Speaking of which he heard the elevator doors forced open in the distance.

He worked faster. The circuitry was incredibly complex, and Peter was certain he had seen something similar, but couldn't worry about that. Finally it was shut off, and the sparks stopped flying.

Spiderman put the screwdriver to the bars, and no sparks. He threw the screwdriver away, pulled off the rubber gloves, and put his hands on the iron bars.

He was good to go.

He pulled the bars apart with all his might, and at that moment felt a familiar tingling sensation as Kraven rad down the hall. Spiderman backed up, ready to jump out the window, and felt Kraven stop, probably sniffing around. The next thing he knew Spiderman had leapt to the window and Kraven had burst into the room. The glass shattered as he broke through, using his arms to cover his face. A second later, Kraven has his arms around him again.

"Dude!" cried Spiderman. "I don't know what you've got against breathing, but enough is enough!"

Spiderman twisted, catching the wall with his web and smashing craven against it, narrowly missing a barred window. Kraven, in a daze, let go, and Spiderman swung away, ready to get as far away from this maniac as he could. In less than a minute he was out of sight of the police.

Captain Stacy, watching the scene from the ground, watched helplessly as Spiderman swung away, but then turned his attention to the newcomer, who had landed on his feet like a cat. Kraven stood on all fours, looking at them with an evil glare.

"Bring him in," he said to the officer beside him. "I get the feeling he has something to do with all this."

Police surrounded Kraven, who growled like some wild animal. He was not happy. Not happy at all. The next thing the cops knew Kraven had made a run for it. A few fired their pistols at him, but he dodged with ease, running on all fours and jumping clear over the officers in his way. The next moment he had disappeared into an alley.

Captain Stacy watched, not liking what he was seeing.

Great, he thought. Another one with superhuman powers. Still, there was nothing he could do, so he said, "Let's wrap this up." For now that Spiderman had escaped he figured this incident was over.


	8. Chapter 8

The Marvelous Spider-Man

Chapter Eight

By

Jason Richard

Peter walked home through the city, wondering how he was going to explain the black eye. It wasn't the first time he had been hit. Flash Thompson used to punch him pretty hard before Uncle Ben intervened and Harry moved to their school. Once he had even his hit head against a concrete wall practicing with his knew powers, but that hadn't hurt much and hadn't left any marks.

The head butt from this Kraven guy, on the other hand, was very different.

Peter thought about telling Uncle Ben and Aunt May that he slipped and fell or hit his head walking into something, but decided against it. Uncle Ben was smarter than that, and would probably know this was from a fight. Well, if it was a fight Uncle Ben would believe, it was a fight Peter would give him.

He would just have to leave the part about Spiderman and the crazy Russian hunter out of it.

To make it look convincing he took out his wallet, put the cash in his shoe, his identification in his pocket, and threw the wallet away in a public trash can. He didn't have any credit cards so that wasn't a problem. He figured he'd just tell them that he was mugged taking a shortcut through a bad neighborhood and his wallet was stolen, but the crooks threw his ID away as they ran off. It would be believable, Peter would promise not to take shortcuts again, and none would be the wiser.

The only thing Peter was really worried about was whether or not someone would accept payment with cash that smelled like his foot, but he figured he'd cross that bridge when he came to it.

As he walked by he passed an older man with greying hair and a thin mustache who gave Peter a second look. This man was J. Jonah Jameson.

"Whoa kid," he said in a gruff voice. "What happened to you?"

"Mugged," said Peter, not really interested in talking about it with a stranger.

"Mugged huh," said Jameson. "Huh. Streets still aren't safe anymore. So much for that Spiderman creep."

Peter stopped, then turned around.

"Well," he said. "I think Spiderman was dealing with that hostage situation when it happened. I mean the guy can't be everywhere at once."

"It was then?" said Jameson, intrigued. Suddenly he got a look in his eye that Peter really didn't like.

"Say kid," said Jameson. "How would you like to be in the paper?"

"What?"

"Let me introduce myself," said Jameson, acting very self-important. "I'm J. Jonah Jameson, editor in chief at the Daily Bugle. Perhaps you've heard of me?"

"Yeah," said Peter. "I've heard of you. In fact I remember where I first heard about you."

"Oh really? Where?"

"I was standing on this very spot, and some guy called J. Jonah Jameson asked me if I've ever heard of you."

Jameson laughed forcefully, but Peter could tell he was having trouble keeping that smile.

"Little kidder," said Jameson through a phony smile. "Hilarious. But seriously. I'd like to do an editorial Spiderman and people he's failed to help. You know? Get the other side of the story? And I would like to interview your for that very editorial. What do you say? How can you pass up an opportunity to be in the paper?"

"That's easy," said Peter. "Like this," and peter walked away.

Jameson got serious. "Alright, fifty bucks."

"Nope," said Peter, still walking away. Jameson started to follow.

"A hundred," said Jameson.

Peter turned and faced him, saying, "I don't want any money from you, and I doubt I ever will. However if I see any flying pigs, you'll be the first to know."

Peter turned and walked away, leaving Jameson with a sour face. He grumbled something about finding someone else and walked away.

Peter couldn't believe the nerve of that guy. Was he only interested in Spiderman's mistakes? That was the same guy that mentioned Spiderman letting those escaped cons getting away. Peter was still sorry people got hurt, but be had responsibilities other than Spiderman. Responsibilities to his Aunt and Uncle. Peter decided, then and there, that he wasn't going to let men like that make him feel bad.

His Aunt and Uncle, on the other hand, were going to make him feel horrible when they saw him. He was not looking forward to the upcoming encounter.

**….**

Dmitri sat alone in the five star hotel room, reading a leather bound book in a comfortable chair. The next thing he knew the door to the room was knocked off the hinges. Dmitri didn't even look up from his book.

"I suppose it didn't go well?" he asked.

Kraven entered the room with a black bag over his shoulder and grunted irritably.

"I'll take that as a no," said Dmitri, looking up. He frowned. "What's in the bag Sergei?"

Kraven, or Sergei, threw the bag on the bed and zipped it open. It turned out to be a body bag with a dead policeman inside; a young man. As Sergei growled, getting his serum out of a box in the corner, Dmitri rolled his eyes.

"Really brother?" said Dmitri, letting the book fall to his lap. "You couldn't capture the Spider so you took a cop?"

"I needed to restore my honor," said Sergei, drinking the blue liquid.

"Hmp," said Dmitri under his breath. "How childish.

"What was that?" said Sergei suspiciously, throwing the vial to the floor and letting the glass break.

"Nothing Sergei," said Dmitri, picking the book up again. "Nothing. I should warn you though, too many police start disappearing and we could have trouble on our hands. The last thing we need is the FBI, the army, or worst all the Avengers getting involved."

"Let them come," said Sergei who had moved to another corner of the room. "I'll hunt them all."

"Yes," said Dmitri under his breath. "And throw more temper tantrums when you lose to them."

"Did you say something?" said Sergei, distracted.

"Nothing brother," said Dmitri. "Absolutely nothing."

Dmitri just read in silence after that, but Sergei pulled out a bigger box and began unlocking the combination lock that held it shut. Well, Sergei thought, this would be over if I was allowed to kill the Spider. I could have snapped his neck and been over with it. I don't like using weapons, but since I must take him in alive I suppose I have no other choice.

After unlocking the box he opened it to reveal a crossbow with tranquilizer darts next to it. He growled again and rubbed his chin. It had been a while since he had used it, but it seemed to be in working order. It should be an adequate way to bring the Spider in alive.

And hopefully satisfy his hunger for the hunt.

**….**

How had things gone so wrong? Peter asked himself.

Peter had gotten home and had given his Aunt and Uncle the story about the mugging. Aunt May insisted on calling the police, even though Peter insisted that he couldn't describe his attacker. That was true enough, but only because Peter didn't want to give his Aunt a heart attack.

The next thing he knew Captain Stacy had found out that his daughters friend was hurt, so he came in person with Gwen, who called Harry, and now everyone was sitting as guests in the Parker house staring at Peter's black eye.

Peter, meanwhile, was seriously reconsidering this whole Spiderman deal. It was turning out to be quite a lot of trouble.

"Alright Peter," said Captain Stacy kindly. "What happened?"

Peter decided to make light of it. Their serious faces were making him uncomfortable somehow.

"I was attacked by a really big guy," said Peter. "I mean he could have made a gorilla pea in his pants…of course gorillas don't wear pants so I guess I should say, 'he could make a gorilla pea.'"

Harry and Gwen giggled. Uncle Ben sighed as if in relief and Captain Stacy tried hard not to laugh. It was Aunt May who seemed perturbed.

"Oh Peter," she said. "Don't be vulgar. Besides…Can't you take this seriously? We're worried about you."

"It's Fine May," said Uncle Ben. "He's just like his father. Doesn't want people to worry about him. Do you Peter?"

Peter cracked a smile. "Yeah." He said, wondering how Uncle Ben knew him so well. "Really Aunt May…everyone…I'm fine. As for the guy who did it he I can't really describe him all that well. He was big and mean, and that's all I can really say about him. It happened so fast I didn't get a good look at him."

Or at least, Peter thought, a look at him that could give me a description that made sense. Seriously, a person who hunts people? That's twisted.

"Okay," said Captain Stacy. "But you do realize that I can't tell my men to look for a man who frightens gorillas. I mean we're overstretched as it is, what with this Sergei Kravenoff on the loose."

That's okay, thought Peter, he's the one you should be after anyway.

"Isn't that Kraven guy just after Spiderman?" asked Harry.

"We're not sure," said Captain Stacy. "One of our men disappeared recently, and he was last seen at yesterday's incident. Kravenoff is one of our prime suspects."

Gwen shifted uncomfortably and looked down. Peter noticed, and realized that tact probably wasn't one of Captain Stacy's strong points. He also realized that he felt guilty. Just a moment ago he was seriously considering giving up this being Spiderman. It just seemed too much trouble, but if this Kravenoff guy was going to hurt people like this who else could stop him?

Then Peter remembered the throbbing in his eye, and wondered if even he could stop him. As it was, Peter really didn't know what to do about it.

"What do you intend to do about him?" said Aunt May.

"Well," said Captain Stacy. "I'm still working on that. All I know is that even this Spiderman ran from him, so we might not be able to count on him to put an end to this."

Ouch, thought Peter.

"But," said Captain Stacy. "We'll do whatever we can."

Everyone nodded, and then Uncle Ben added. "Well, if you can't be the stronger man, you'll just have to be smarter. I'm sure you'll come up with a plan."

That caught Peter's attention.

"Thanks," said Captain Stacy. "We'll, I'd better get back to work."

A few minutes later everyone was going their separate ways, and Peter ended up in his room, lying on the bed and thinking. Unwittingly Uncle Ben had given Peter the answer. Of course Spiderman probably couldn't beat Kraven in a test of strength. How had Spiderman escaped from him in the first place? Not by muscling his way out of his dilemma, but using his head, and that would ultimately be Peter's weapon. He looked into the bag that held his Spiderman suit, went over, and pulled out his web shooters.

He could use his head to fight Kraven now, starting with his invention. It was time to start tinkering, so that when he faced Kraven again he would have a plan.


	9. Chapter 9

The Marvelous Spiderman

Chapter Nine

By

Jason Richard

This stinks, thought Peter, I bet Iron Man doesn't hold off on fighting supervillians to go to school. This ran through his mind as he walked with Gwen and Harry to their lockers. It was a little after noon and Peter didn't have many classes left, but the situation still stunk.

It wasn't that Peter disliked school, in fact he was one of the few kids who seemed good at it. The problem was that he had other things he wanted to do. Still, he had to keep up appearances. If Spiderman stopped a crime every time Peter skipped school someone was bound to get suspicious. He didn't like it, but he had to keep it up.

Besides, he thought, I do need an education. Superheroing won't pay the builds. Probably because superheroing isn't a word.

Peter was also glad that he had somehow managed to improve his web shooters and finish his homework all in one night. That was good, but he quickly realized he needed to stop thinking and start talking.

If he was quiet for too long that absolutely adorable blonde daughter of a cop would notice something was wrong.

"So," said Peter. "I lots of people staring at me," for everyone saw the black eye. "If I didn't know any better I'd think I was famous."

"You?" asked an annoying voice. "A celebrity? Please!"

As the three of them went to their respective lockers they collectively rolled their eyes as Flash Thompson strolled up.

"Now Spiderman," he said to the room. "He's a celebrity…and I'm collecting names for the Spiderman fan club! Everyone's free to join. Any takers?"

Gwen and Harry starting giggling while Peter had to resist the urge to knock his head against the locker door. Flash Thompson was starting a fan club? Peter could have thrown up.

Though he wasn't sure witch was worse, that it was Flash Thompson starting the club, or that no one around seemed interested in it.

"No thanks Flash," said Harry. "I'm not _that_ grateful for you giving my money back."

Gwen giggled, and Peter thought, not a bad quip Harry. Not bad.

"Okay," said Flash "Okay, fine. But Gwen, surely a classy girl like you had good taste in heroes. Am I right?"

"Flash," she said seriously, turning to him. "You're having trouble finding people for this club aren't you?"

"What?" said Flash innocently. "What are you talking about?"

"Didn't you say," said Gwen. "That apart from me this is where the losers of the school met?"

"Well," said Flash. "One could easily make a start revoking loser status by being a part of this club."

Peter immediately thought of saying, sorry flash, revoke means to negate or rescind. I think you mean one could start obtaining your loser status by joining my club.

But he didn't say it. Seriously, half of Peter wanted to bash Flash's club, but the other half wanted to support Spiderman's only fan.

Man, thought Peter, ambivalence stinks.

"Maybe," said Gwen. "But that Spiderman wasn't exactly there to help when Peter got mugged."

That surprised Flash. He looked at Peter and saw the black eye. It seemed to his Flash hard.

"You were mugged?" he said. "Parker? And Spiderman didn't save you."

"Well," said Peter. "It was at the same time as that hostage crisis yesterday."

Flash brightened up. "Oh well, that's it then. I mean he can't be everywhere at once, and a superhero's got to have priorities you know? But I'm sure he would have saved you if he had the chance."

"Not if the Daily Bugle's right," said Harry. "I saw the front page while my dad was reading it, and they're saying that this Spiderman guy left some real people in need high and dry while he went to bust a phony hostage crisis. The hostages were released as soon as he showed up, and the paper implied that Spiderman set the whole thing up to look like a hero."

Peter clenched his fists.

"Well," said Gwen. "I wouldn't be surprised. Peter, you could have gotten interviewed for that paper."

As far as Peter was concerned that hurt harder than Kraven's head butt. He just made a nervous laugh to cover his emotions.

"Alright," said Flash angrily. "I'll deal with that guy. I'll get the rest of the fan club and egg his house!"

"Tell both of them I said hi," said Harry.

Gwen laughed, and Peter thought, gee Harry, quip Flash all you like but did you have to quip me? I'm starting to think you're spending too much time around me.

Flash Thompson, meanwhile, just scowled and walked off.

At that moment the bell rung.

"See you," said Gwen.

"See you," said Harry.

"Later," said Peter as they went to their respective classes.

He walked on, feeling sour and disappointed. This really stunk. The whole thing really stunk. And that Jameson guy! He had the nerve to print that stupid paper anyway? Peter had half a mind to egg his house right along with Flash. Still, he thought better of it. That could get him in trouble, and speaking of which there was a man who would probably make sure he got in trouble; the school principle. He was an older, middle aged man with salt and pepper hair and a stern face wearing a nice brown suit. He was joined by a large man with black hair, a beard, a mustache, and a general lion-ish demeanor that looked strangely like Kraven the hunter.

Peter almost had a heart attack. It was Kraven the hunter.

They through the hallway that had emptied of students, and then they walked right past where Peter had been standing, but he wasn't there. Peter watched from the ceiling, wondering what the heck Kraven was doing at his school.

How had he found him? And what was he doing with the principal? Peter followed cautiously.

A few corners later, Peter was sticking to the wall just over the lockers while Kraven and the principal were just around the corner, talking.

"This is getting ridiculous Dmitri," said Kraven. "When you pointed out the Spider's 'science teacher' line I accepted that he might be a student."

Science teacher line? Peter silently asked himself.

"But," Kraven continued. "I was thinking college. Why are we at a high school?"

"I told you Sergei," said the principle. "His build suggests someone young, and he only seems to fight crime during afternoon hours, and a few times during early morning. I checked sightings thoroughly. He doesn't emerge during school hours, and he stops late at night when crime is the worst, suggesting a curfew. I'd be surprised if he wasn't a high schooler. Besides, this is the place you seemed to find traces of the Spider's scent last night isn't it?"

"I suppose," said Kraven uncomfortable. "But why are we speaking English? We always speak Russian when it's just the two of us."

As the Principle opened his mouth to reply Peter expected the same American accent, but this time the accent was Russian.

"Old habit," said Dmitri in Russian. "I like to stay in character. Now, can you find the Spider or not?"

"I can find him," said Kraven, beginning to sniff.

Peter may not have understood the Russian part of that conversation, but he understood the sniffing. It was time to get out of there, and as Kraven looked where Peter had just been, sure enough Peter had vanished.

**….**

"That's what my science teacher said," said Spiderman, then he grumbled. "Though after running into you I might have to have a little chat with him about it."

Of course, Peter thought as he sat through science class. How could I be so stupid! I let slip that I was a student! I've got to be more careful!

That wasn't the only problem. He was, of course, late to class. His science teacher, a younger man with dark hair, had given him some grief over it. However, due to Peter's record he let it slide this time. Still, that was the least of his concerns.

Peter was terrified that someone would enter the classroom any minute to catch his scent. He kept staring at the door, hoping not to see Kraven enter, and at the clock, wondering when he would get out of this place. The clock seemed to be going slower than normal, as if time was had slowed down. A lot. There was some good news, though. He had a free period after this one, which was good. He needed the time.

Peter had to do something about Kraven and the imposter, and he had an idea of how to do it. Until class let out, though, he would have to wait, watching the door in fear.

**….**

Somehow Peter made it through class without Kraven bursting in, but he still felt himself shaking. He went to his locker, but instead of getting his textbooks he got his Spiderman gear, hidden in a normal looking bag. He didn't plan to change into it; he just needed to remove evidence from his locker, just in case. Then he waited. After a few minutes the halls cleared again, and Peter could begin his plan. He waited against the wall and felt for vibrations. Eventually he felt the footsteps of a pair of people moving through the school.

Kraven had his sense of smell, but so long as Peter kept up his spider sense on them he could get around that. Peter thought back and knew of a creature in nature that used tricks to get around smell. A fox would often jump around, zigzag, and leap off of objects to confuse predators, and that is what Peter decided to do.

He ran off, climbing the walls, the ceiling, the floor, everywhere, zigzagging and backtracking, carefully, and deliberately leaving his scent for Kraven to find.

**….**

A few minutes later Kraven and the Chameleon, still disguised at the principle, where walking through the hallway. Kravne was riled up, sniffing everywhere. Suddenly the Chameleon stopped. Kraven didn't even let up, but kept sniffing excitedly.

When they spoke, it was in Russian.

"He's here," said Kraven, grinning. "Yes you were right, he's here!"

"And leading us around in circles," said Chameleon. "We've been through this hallway five times already."

"Yes," said Kraven. "He's scampering around quite a bit. He must be so terrified he doesn't know where to run."

"Or he's playing fox with you," said Chameleon.

"What was that?" said Kraven, distracted.

"Nothing brother," said Chameleon. "Nothing at all."

They moved forward again, Kraven sniffing at random places around the hallways, sometimes backtracking only to turn around again. He was getting more and more excited though, and eventually started running. Chameleon was having trouble keeping up, until he turned a corner to find Kraven staring at the wall.

Taking deep breaths, Chameleon stared at the wall. There was a note written in marker, and it read:

A high school student? Really? Please.

I only come here for the cheerleaders.

Better luck next time though.

Kraven growled and turned to Chameleon.

"This is your fault Dmitri," he said. "Let him mock you. I'll go and hunt the proper way."

The Chameleon, Dmitri, didn't respond as Kraven walked away sulking. The Russian spy and master of impersonation just looked at the note and rubbed his chin. Kraven never was good at games that required intelligent thought. Dmitri knew what Sergei the hunter failed to realize; that this note practically confirmed the Spider's presence here.  
Fine then, Dmitri thought. As far as he was concerned Sergei could sulk and hunt the Spiderman like some brute as much as he wanted. The Chameleon would continue to come here and try to catch the Spider on his own, without Kraven's help.

He grinned. They would know soon enough with brother would catch the Spider first.

Meanwhile Kraven walked through the halls growling irritably. Soon he went past Harry Osbourn, who had excused himself from class to go to the bathroom. As Kraven past him he sniffed, and then stopped.

"You, boy," he said. Harry stopped and turned around, and then Kraven slowly turned around as well. He went up to a confused Harry and began to sniff him. Harry just stared at him.

Kraven smelled the Spider on this boy. For a moment he considered taking this boy in as bait. After all, if he knew the Spider…

Suddenly Kraven turned and left in a huff, realizing how absolutely ridiculous it was for the Spider, such a clever foe, to be involved in high school dealings. Naturally the Spider's scent on this boy was another of the Spider's tricks. Kraven knew that the Spider had probably left his scent on half of the students there just to throw him off.

He would not be fooled by such petty tricks.

Peter, meanwhile, leaned casually against the wall and felt Kraven's footsteps leave the school. He was a little worried about the other guy who was imitating the principle, but without Kraven's nose he figured it would be easy to hide.

He cracked a smile, convinced that, for the moment at least, he was safe, and that everyone else in this school was as well.


	10. Chapter 10

The Marvelous Spiderman

Chapter Ten

By

Jason Richard

The news came in the afternoon.

There was a shootout in central park between a gang of armed robbers and NYPD officers. Peter saw the news through the televisions in the window of an electronics store. Somehow he knew Kraven wasn't behind it. Given how tame the hostage situation before had been Peter knew that this was different. This wasn't just bait. The danger was real.

But Peter knew Kraven would be there all the same, hunting the Spider.

That didn't stop him from going though. Peter had a plan this time. He looked at the bag he was holding and checked his web shooters. The modifications he had made to them previously seemed to be working fine, including the glowing bars that indicated how much web fluid he had left. With that he went into an alley and a few minutes later was swinging through New York as Spiderman. He wasn't going to let this Kraven guy hurt him or anyone else. That being said he had the strangest feeling that he had forgotten something.

But he couldn't worry about that now.

**….**

Kraven, meanwhile, saw the news cast from the hotel room and knew the Spider would be there. He shouldered his crossbow and spoke to Dmitri, who was reading the newspaper.

"Well Dmitri," said Sergei Kravenoff. "Are you ready?"

"I suppose," said Dmitri, putting the newspaper down. "But are you sure about this? I thought you preferred to work alone. Why do you need my help?"

"Good hunters use a pack," said Sergei. "Just remember who the alpha male is here and we'll be fine. Won't we?"

Sergei had that look that Dmitri remembered as a child. It was a look that said, 'agree with me or I'll break your legs.' As it was Dmitri's legs were aching a little.

"Fine," said Dmitri. "You're the boss."

"Good," said Sergei with a satisfied sigh.

As they left the hotel Dmitri couldn't help but think that he'd hate this. He still planned to try and capture the Spider on his own, but if he didn't assist Kraven in this it would look suspicious. Dmitri decided he needed to keep his motives hidden, so he would play along for now. He'd just have to make certain not to try his best at this.

He chuckled just a little. For this particular hunt he'd actually be rooting for the Spider.

"Did you say something?" asked Sergei, partially hearing the low chuckle.

"Nothing brother," said Dmitri with a subtle grin. "Nothing at all."

**….**

Central park was like a small forest. It was usually pretty quiet and peaceful, but today there was gunfire. The gang of shooters had fled into central park hoping to evade the cops, but they just couldn't seem to shake them.

Spiderman watched the scene from the top of a nearby building. He didn't see anyone, but he heard and saw gunfire in the trees below. He knew Kraven would be there, and in truth was the perfect place for an ambush. Amid skyscrapers Peter could just web to a tall building and swing away, like a bird flying out of reach of a predator, but down there all he could swing off of were the trees, and that wouldn't swing him out of Kraven's reach.

Peter took a deep breath and then, as Spiderman, swung down to catch the crooks below. He reached the area where the criminals were shooting back at police. The thwip sound from his web shooters caught the attention of the crooks, but Spiderman had accounted for that. He kept just out of sight. Then he would swoop in, spin a big web to catch the crooks attention, and then swing right in their mist to kick, punch, or otherwise throw one of the crooks into the web.

Caught like a fly in a web.

After this maneuver he would swing away, back out of sight. The shooters eventually ignored the cops pursuing them and tried to hit Spiderman, but every time Spiderman disappeared he would kick off a tree to quickly change direction and throw his attackers off. He would then swing around behind them and repeat the process. A lot of bullets came his way, but Spiderman was able to dodge all of them.

"I must be the hero in an action movie!" cried Spiderman as he swung out of sight. "Everyone I fight has terrible aim! Seriously, where did you guys learn to shoot?!"

Back at the police one of the officers, a big, broad shouldered guy, called on his radio.

"Sir," he said. "We've got Spiderman rounding up the crooks. Should we advance?"

"Negative," said Captain Stacy over the receiver. "You might hit Spiderman if you keep firing, and right now I'm not classifying him as a target. Just hold your men back and wait."

"I don't like this sir," said the officer.

"I know," said Captain Stacy with a sigh. "I know."

A few minutes later Spiderman had rounded up the gunmen. He stood, all fours, on a tree branch and watched as the cops flooded in, just gawking at the webbed up criminals. Behind the mask Peter was thinking. It had been a little harder to use his Spider-Sense during this fight. He could sense vibrations through the air, but that sensation wasn't as strong as it was on the ground, so he couldn't sense their location. He could occasionally sense their location through vibrations in his webbing, something he made sure to remember, but there seemed to be a time delay from that. The best he could do while web swinging was keep an eye on his targets and use spider sense as a supplement.

So, Peter thought, I'm most vulnerable when I'm web swinging huh? I'll have to be careful. In the meantime, where's Kraven?

He looked around and as if on cue he felt a strong tingling sensation run through the tree and into his limbs. He immediately leaped as a tranquilizer flew past.

As he landed he looked over to see Kraven running through the trees with his hyena like grin, crossbow in hand. Kraven had thrown a tranquilizer into the air and had pulled the crossbow string back with his bare hand. He caught the tranquilizer in the bed of the crossbow, and a second later had fired it.

The bolt of the crossbow sent vibrations through the ground, up through the tree, and through Peter's whole body.

Spiderman dodged the bolt and started swinging through the trees. He shot webbing more rapidly than normal as he fled from Kraven, hoping to get away. His Spider Sense was weaker while web swinging, but he found that this crossbow was easier to dodge than a gun might have been, as the projectile was slower. This meant that as Kraven fired a new dart every five seconds Spiderman just twisted out of the way.

It was a little unnerving how fast Kraven ran as well. Peter figured he was more comfortable out in the open and among the trees for he was running faster than he had in the apartment building, so Spiderman had to pick up speed. His speed was like that of a wild animal, which didn't surprise Peter, but made him nervous. Still, he knew he couldn't let it show.

"Wow," said Spiderman loudly yet dryly. "I'd expect the supervillian to at least have better aim than the henchmen! Come on, this is embarrassing!

"This time Spider!" cried Kraven, still grinning. "I'll cut out that tongue of yours!"

"And take away my sharp retorts?" said Spiderman, aghast. "You evil man!"

Then Spiderman twisted and started swinging backwards, firing webbing between the trees and blocking Kraven's path. Kraven just laughed and shot a dart through the webbing, forcing Spiderman to do a mid-air backflip with one hand on a strand of webbing. The next moment Spiderman landed, sticking to a nearby tree.

"That trick again?" cried Kraven. "Didn't you learn the last time?" He pulled out his bowie knives to cut through the strands.

"Actually," said Spiderman. "I did."

Kraven suddenly found himself stuck in the webbing. Not even his knives could cut through the material. He struggled, but found himself stuck.

"What do you think?" said Spiderman. "Based on the molecular structure of the cables on a suspension bridge, this webbing is as strong as steel. Nobel prize worthy huh? And now…" he got serious. "You're mine!"

Spiderman swung down and up again, raising his fist for a punch. Suddenly Kraven pulled, and the bark of the tree webbed to Kraven's arm came loose. Spiderman shot two strands of webbing behind him to stop his advance, and Kraven's fist ended up a fraction of an inch from his face.

Peter, wide eyed under his mask, did not like how close it was.

Spiderman sprung back as Kraven started freeing himself. Kraven then swung his arm, using the webbing to swing a piece of wood at Spiderman, who dodged as the wood struck a tree with a CRACK! Spiderman then retreated, swinging through the forest. He needed a new plan, and he needed one fast.

Meanwhile Kraven, freeing himself from the webbing, put his finger on a hidden receiver in his ear.

"Dmitri," said Kraven. "Time to herd him back in my direction."

**….**

Good cables, Peter thought, poor bridge. I need an area with a stronger foundation. Concrete, steel, something like that. I've got to get out of central park.

He didn't get far before he saw Kraven in the distance, crossbow in hand. Kraven fired a bolt and Spiderman immediately dodged and turned the other way. Peter was thinking that it should be impossible for Kraven to be that fast. Something was wrong here.

What he didn't notice was that this Kraven didn't pursue but put his hand to his ear and said, in Chameleon's voice, "He's heading to the east side of the park."

Over the line the real Kraven said, "Understood.

The fake Kraven, meanwhile, turned and walked towards a camouflaged four wheeled ATV. He got on it and rode off.

**….**

This was getting ridiculous. Every time Peter got close to getting out of central park he ran into Kraven. He just couldn't get close enough to one of the skyscrapers to web out of there. He didn't know how Kraven managed to keep cutting him off, but he did. Something was off about him as well. When he was close to getting out of central park Kraven didn't seem too trigger happy. In the center of the Urban Jungle, however, Kraven shot that crossbow like a madman. In both cases it was a simple matter spreading some steel hard webbing to slow him down and get away, but the indicator on his web shooter was ridiculously low, and he had already replaced the web cartridges once by that point. He needed a plan, and he needed one fast.

Speaking of which he saw the group of cops camped out in an open area. He swung past it and webbed a radio transceiver away from one of the cops.

"Excuse me!" said Spiderman. "I need to borrow this!"

"Hey!" cried the cop.

Spiderman stopped swinging as he grabbed the transceiver and started leaping from tree branch to tree branch. He needed his hands

"Hello," said Spiderman into the radio. "Hello, testing one, two, three. Can anyone here me?"

"Who is this?" said Captain Stacy over the line.

Shoot, thought Peter. I should have known it would be him.

"Uh, yeah," said Spiderman in his best deep voice. "This is Spiderman. I was wondering if you could help me." The last thing he wanted was for the captain of the police to recognize his voice.

"You're asking me for help?" said Captain Stacy, surprised.

"Well yeah," said Spiderman, still leaping from the trees and keeping an eye out for Kraven. "I think I can beat this Kraven guy, but not here in central park. However, every time I try to leave he cuts me off. Even considering how fast this guy runs he shouldn't be able to get in front of me like that."

"You say he runs fast?" asked Captain Stacy. "I've been getting conflicting reports on that. Some say he's running like a cheetah, others say he's on an ATV."

That was news to Peter. An ATV? Kraven wouldn't need something like that, but then…

It hit him. Kraven wasn't around so he stopped on a tree to think about it. There was a Kraven that only fired one shot, and a trigger happy one as well. There were two of them. And the other was the principle's doppelganger at school. His job was to keep Spiderman from getting out of central park so Kraven could keep up the hunt. They must have been communicating somehow so they could coordinate their efforts.

"Alright," said Spiderman. "How would you like to help me catch one of these Kravens?"

There was a pause before Captain Stacy answered. "I don't know what you mean by two Kravens, but sure, I'd love to catch one."

"Alright," said Spiderman, seeing Kraven running up in the distance. "I'm going to head for the north side of central park. The Kraven on the ATV will cut me off there, but I can catch that one. Think you can have your men ready for an arrest?"

"We'll be there," said Captain Stacy.

"Good," said Spiderman before tossing away his radio and swinging past Kraven. He put up another barrier of steel hard webbing and went on his way, north."

Kraven shot a few darts at him but Spiderman still got away. Kraven growled in frustration and put his finger to the hidden receiver in his ear.

"He's headed north," he said.

**….**

Dmitri stood in the forest, and was sweating in all the foam padding, but it was necessary for this ruse. Kraven was a great deal bigger than he was after all. Dmitri had hoped Spiderman picked up on the hint. He knew Sergei would be firing his crossbow as aggressively as possible, so by only firing one it should be an adequate clue that he wasn't the real one. Not that Dmitri could reload his crossbow as fast as Sergei anyway, but still.

Something was wrong however. Dmitri knew he should have seen the spider by now, but he was a no show. Or, at least, that is what Dmitri thought.

"Gee nice ride," said a taunting voice behind him. Dmitri looked to see the Spider above him. "Though, wouldn't running be faster."

So you did figure it out, Dmitri thought, well done. With that he jumped onto the ATV hidden nearby and rod off. He looked back but Spiderman wasn't moving. No matter, Dmitri thought. He looked ahead and didn't see anything in front of him.

But he hit something anyway.

He felt thin yet strong strands strike him in the chest. The next thing he knew he was dangling midair, stuck to something unseen as his ATV was going off on its own. It proceeded to crash into a tree, and Dmitri couldn't help but wonder what had just happened.

He could feel the strands, but he couldn't see them. However, as he looked around he eventually saw strands that caught the light, and it hit him. It was, of course, webbing, but more like a real web; completely invisible unless you looked at it from the right angle.

Peter, behind his mask, grinned.

Spiderman leaped and landed on a nearby tree and pulled Dmitri's mask off with a strand of webbing. What he saw was a bald man with a pale white face and an almost nonexistent nose. It surprised him.

"Are you, by any chance, wearing a suit under there?" said Spiderman.

"Yes actually, I am," said Dmitri. "It helps to get out of disguises quickly sometimes. Why do you ask?"

Spiderman gushed. "Oh my goodness I am the first spider to catch a slender man in his web. Awesome! Though I'm surprised, you have more of a face than I thought you would"

Dmitri just gave him a blank look.

The next moment Captain Stacy arrived with cops. The cops surrounded the unmasked Dmitri and trained their weapons on him. Captain Stacy looked at Spiderman who looked back. Spiderman nodded, and Captain Stacy nodded back. With that Spiderman left, swinging away, eventually swinging out of central park and to the skyscrapers.

Meanwhile Kraven watched the scene from behind the trees, hidden from sight. Curse that Dmitri, he thought. Curse him for getting captured like that. At that moment he was considering hunting one of the police, but he thought better of it. Ever since he hunted that first cop police in the city hadn't been going anywhere alone. They always had two or three other police with them. It would be dangerous to try and hunt one today, even for him.

He'd have to sooth his wounded pride elsewhere.

Captain Stacy, organizing the arrest of this imposter Kraven, had a good feeling. He hoped the precautions he was having the other officers make would be enough to keep them safe, or perhaps capture this Kraven if he got careless. Captain Stacy may have been in an arena of people with superpowers, but he wasn't going to let that stop him from doing his job.

Finally Peter swung home, glad to be out of the trees and back among the skyscrapers. He was also happy that things seemed to be working out a little better. The doppelganger was off his back, hopefully, and he had a better strategy for facing Kraven in the future. Still, he couldn't help but feel that he had forgotten something.

Harry and Gwen felt that Peter had forgotten something as well, for he had never shown up to their homework session at Harry's place. They eventually started homework without him, but they would not be forgetting this any time soon.

I would like to thank those of you who have given this story positive comments in the reviews section. I really appreciate it.

Jason Richard.


	11. Chapter 11

The Marvelous Spiderman

Chapter Eleven

By

Jason Richard

"What?" asked Peter, standing on a rooftop in his Spiderman costume and talking in the phone. "What did you say?" It was getting late, as the sun had set long ago, and Peter had been patrolling the city all day. Getting this call from Gwen, suffice to say, had shocked him greatly.

"I asked you where you are," said Gwen. "Why didn't you show up to our study session?"

"Uh," said Peter.

"Oh, yeah," said Gwen sarcastically. "Great reason."

"I'm sorry," said Peter. "I was…distracted I guess."

"Distracted by what?" the accusation in her voice was unmistakable, and Peter felt it.

"That's hard to explain," said Peter over the phone. "At least over the phone."

"Fine," said Gwen. "We'll talk tomorrow. You will be at school won't you?"

"Of course," said Peter, perhaps a little more irritably than he intended. "See you."

Gwen hung up, and Peter sighed. She was angry, and frankly he didn't blame her. He knew he had forgotten something. If there was any consolation in this it was that no one else had been hurt by Kraven, not even Peter himself. However, Peter wondered what Kraven would do now that he had failed yet again to capture Spiderman. Peter had been checking on Gwen's dad, swinging by his office at the police department, just to make certain Kraven didn't go after him. He seemed fine though. The police department was locked down better than Fort Knox.

He had to admire that fiery spirit the Stacy's shared, even if it was mad at him right now.

He was about to head home when he heard sirens. He looked at the police radio he left on the roof and realized that something was going on. However, it said something was happening at the central park zoo, so Peter didn't pay it much mind. Once again he had curfew, and after missing the study session with Harry and Gwen Peter wasn't keen on being late for something else. Besides, nothing too dangerous was going to happen at a zoo right? It was closed and all, so there wouldn't be any civilians there. It was probably some thugs playing a prank. Peter got his stuff together and web swung home, confident that nothing dangerous was happening, and this wouldn't be a repeat of the last time Peter had let the siren go without investigating.

Peter didn't sleep well that night.

**….**

Ben Parker sat down to eat breakfast; sausage and eggs. He was about to pick up the newspaper when Peter walked in and snatched it up. Ben looked up, surprised, to see that not only was Peter reading the newspaper, but he looked like he had been up all night. Ben frowned and waited, but Peter was reading like his life depended on it.

"Are you alright Peter?" asked Uncle Ben.

"Fine," said Peter, calming down a little. "Just fine."

Ben would have pressed for more information, but he knew better. Peter was too much like his father, and never shared when something bothered him. He considered telling Peter about the money problems he and May had been having lately, but he thought better against it. Something was obviously troubling him, and Ben couldn't bear to add to that. He just sat and ate his breakfast in silence.

Meanwhile Peter was thinking that no people had gotten hurt last night, even though Spiderman wasn't patrolling. That was the good news. The bad news was that Kraven had gone on a rampage after all. The title read:

World Famous Hunter Goes on Hunting Spree at the Zoo.

Peter read the article, but to sum it up it said that Sergei Kravenoff had killed just about every animal at the central park zoo, forcing them to close until further notice. Despite seeing Kraven's wild face in person, this news still shocked Peter. He realized had to catch this guy, before he went on a rampage like this in an area populated by people.

Peter put the paper down and then noticed something. In a little box off to the side he read, "Prize money for a clear picture of Spiderman. Job opportunity as well."

It was, of course, The Daily Bugle.

So, Peter thought, that Jameson can't get a good picture of me huh? Well, I wouldn't give him a good picture if he begged for it. Still, that doesn't mean I can't give him some bad pictures. He had to resist the urge to grin in front of his uncle.

Maybe a few crazy hijinks could make him forget his Spiderman problems for a while.

**….**

Jameson looked over the photos that had been mailed in and wasn't happy about them. He'd gotten the usual speck next to a flock of pigeons one his desk for the past few days, and finally someone had pictures that were different. Unfortunately, it none of them were any better.

He sat at his desk looking them over while Betty Brant waited.

"Mrs. Brant," said Jameson. "I think Spiderman is mocking me."

"No! You!" said Betty sarcastically.

"He is," said Jameson. "I've got a picture of a foot peeking out from behind a building, a hand coming out from under a door, a full body picture too blurry to make anything out, a red fist, and a blue rear end."

"Well," said Betty. "I don't think he appreciates the publicity you've been giving him."

Jameson stared at the photos for a moment longer and said, "You know something, I'm tempted to use the blue rear end."

**….**

The Chameleon sat at the table. He was alone in an interrogation room until Captain Stacy walked in. Captain Stacy sat down, put a tape recorder on the table, turned it on, and faced the pure white Russian spy.

"So," said Captain Stacy. "You like masks do you?"

"I do," said the Chameleon playfully. "I never liked my face growing up. I mean really, it started an entire internet myth. I look like some sort of monster, and people tend to treat me that way. However, they don't have the same reaction to other people's faces, so I figured, why not steal them? If I don't like my own face I could always take someone else's. By the way, you have a very nice face Captain."

Captain Stacy frowned. "I should warn you; I'm not really in the mood for games. That partner you were impersonating, Sergei Kravenoff, killed one of my men earlier. Now, I could hang this on Kraven the hunter himself, but to be perfectly honest I'm getting a little impatient with that. If I have to hang the first person we've arrested for it, even if I can't find any record of him in our databases, then so be it. However, if I could catch Kraven, it might put me and several other armed cops in this building in a much better mood.

"Just a little food for thought."

"I'm curious," said the Chameleon. "What makes you think Kraven killed that cop at all?"

"Because," said Captain Stacy. "Bad things seem to happen when Kraven loses to Spiderman. That dead cop, all of those dead animals at the zoo earlier; the collateral damage of his temper tantrums is a problem, and one that I am not going to tolerate for long."

The Chameleon frowned. "You noticed too eh?" he said. "That certainly is…problematic. But enough banter. I should warn you that you won't get anything out of me. I won't be here much longer anyway."

"Oh?" said Captain Stacy sarcastically. "I suppose I'm going to get a call from someone much more important than me. Is that right?"

"Not really," said the Chameleon, grinning. "That would imply that I needed help."

Captain Stacy frowned.

A few hours later the Chameleon had disappeared from his cell, and several cops, including Captain Stacy, stared into the vacant room in disbelief.


	12. Chapter 12

The Marvelous Spider-Man

Chapter Twelve

By

Jason Richard

Dmitri sat in the comfortable armchair, once again reading his book, and once again the door to the room was knocked off its hinges and sent flying through the room. As before Dmitri didn't even look up.

"You know brother," said Dmitri. "You've really got to stop doing that."

"Shut up," said Sergei, marching in and flopping into the bed. As he lay there he said, "Why am I not surprised that you aren't in prison?" He sniffed the air. "Is there someone else in here?"

"It's nothing," said Dmitri. "Just the scent of someone I'm impersonating for another job. Nothing you need to worry about."

"I hope not," said Sergei, who paused before he spoke again. "You're doing it on purpose, aren't you?"

"Doing what?" asked Dmitri casually.

"Trying to humiliate me. You wanted the Spider to escape didn't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Dmitri, who had the slightest twitch of a grin that lasted but a moment. "That would be nonsense anyway. If we don't deliver the Spider to my employer neither of us with get what we want."

"I suppose," said Sergei, who growled in frustration. "But this is humiliating. To escape not once, but twice! It makes my blood boil, and not even that chilled webbing of his can sooth it."

"Chilled webbing?" said Dmitri, intrigued.

"Yes," said Sergei, irritated. "That steel webbing of his is terribly cold. Nearly made me shiver."

Dmitri found that detail interesting, and decided to remember it.

"By the way," Sergei went on. "I don't want your help again. I don't need your messing things up a second time."

"Of course not," said Dmitri, quietly satisfied. "Incidentally, about that business at the local zoo; I think that was quite barbaric."

"Who cares what you think?" said Sergei. "My pride is at stake. I must capture the spider or it will be more humiliation than I can bear. I absolutely cannot allow another prey to escape or I…"

"Another?" said Dmitri, realizing that Kraven had been talking more to himself than anyone else. "You mean someone escaped from you before?"

Sergei growled. "Annoying spy. You'd probably figure it out on your own anyway, so fine, I'll tell you. There is this village in Africa known as Wakanda. It is home to a race of people steeped in African tradition, and yet it has weapons and technology that rival even an organization like SHIELD. Their leader is known as the Black Panther. I hunted him sometime around three years ago, and failed. He is the one that got away, and it makes me angry. Happy now?"

"Hmm," said Dmitri. "You are familiar with Wakandan weapons?"

"Yes," said Sergei. "They have blades made of a strange metal. They could cut through steel, and chop down a tree with a single swipe. Formidable indeed. If I had managed to obtain one, I might even have caught the Panther, but alas not even I could discover the true location of this Wakanda."

"Really?" said Dmitri, intrigued. "What if I told you I could get you weapons like that?"

Sergei sat up. "How? And why?"

"They would help cut through the Spider's new webs," said Dmitri. "My employer should be able to provide them." In the meantime Dmitri was thinking that his real reason was that he needed some supplies for his own plan to catch the Spider, and he needed it sent to him in a manner that would not attract Kraven's suspicions. These weapons would be a good cover for what he had in mind.

"Very well," said Sergei, suddenly wearing his hyena-like grin. "We will wait for your employer to send them. In the meantime we'll stay out of the Spider's way. He can sweat a little, wondering when I will strike, and then when I am strongest, he'll never see me coming!"

"Excellent plan brother," said Dmitri, grinning where Sergei couldn't see him. "Excellent." He was about to start reading his book again, when he realized something.

"Brother," Dmitri said. "Three years ago there was a small village in Africa nearby the region where the legendary Wakanda is supposed to be hidden. Three years ago, at around the same time I believe you were hunting the Black Panther, that village was destroyed, and all of the inhabitants were slaughtered. That wouldn't have been one of your fits of rage would it?"

Kraven lay back on the bed, in a better mood. "Perhaps," he said. "I really don't remember."

Dmitri put the book in his lap and shook his head.

"Really brother," Dmitri went on. "You were like this even when we were children. You always reveled in being superior. You were a phenomenal athlete, and loved to lord that over everyone. I used to admire you. Did you know that? Then you discovered that I was a better at something. When I started excelling with my studies you decided to take out your frustrations out on me. Remember? You took every opportunity to make me miserable, as if that would reassert your superiority over me. It's no different with your current prey. You just can't stand being weaker than others, and when you can't capture your prey you throw a tantrum. I'm not the only one who sees it either. Even the Captain of the police thinks it's obvious. Sergei, I tell you this for your own good. If you cannot swallow your pride and accept when you've lost you are going to fall, and fall hard. You'll just have to accept it. There are people out there better than you, and some of them are right under your nose."

"Did you say something brother?" asked Sergei, who had stopped listening, and just lay with a grin on his back imagining what he would do to the Spider once he had Wakandan weapons.

Dmitri just picked up his book and began reading. However, he did say, "Nothing brother." And then under his breath. "Nothing you want to hear anyway."

**….**

** The Next Day.**

Thankfully, Jameson didn't actually use any of the pictures Peter had sent anonymously. He had, however, printed another article bashing Spiderman. This time the title read, "Spidey has curfew? New report indicates that Spiderman Doesn't fight crime after Ten."

Great, thought Peter as he walked to school. Now every criminal in the city is going to get the bright idea to avoid crime after ten, and where will I be? If I come home late every night my aunt and uncle will get suspicious. Who tipped Jameson off anyway?

**….**

Little did Peter know that Dmitri the Chameleon had sent an anonymous message pointing Jameson in the right direction, and at the same moment Peter was walking down the sidewalk to school Dmitri was reading the Daily Bugle in his lush hotel room with a satisfied grin. This, thought Dmitri, ought to put some pressure on the Spider. If people start to figure out that he's a high school student he'll have to skip class and other activities in order to keep up being Spiderman. All I'll have to do is look for a student who suddenly starts disappearing from class and breaking curfew with his parents and I've got him.

In the meantime, Dmitri needed to get to school.

After all, he was still impersonating the school's principle. As he stood up in the hotel room he went to the closet to get his disguise. He noticed the principle, tied up and gagged, and watching Dmitri change in horror.

"Sorry about this," said Dmitri. "Normally I would just kill whomever I've impersonated." Dmitri finished changing and looked exactly like the principle. "Luckily for you my temporary partner's loose cannon attitude has put me off of violence completely…for now. You'll just have to stay here until I'm done with your face. Sorry for the inconvenience."

With that Dmitri grinned and closed the closet door.

**….**

J. Jonah Jameson walked down the sidewalk amid the hustle and bustle of the city wearing a wide brimmed hat, an overcoat to protect him from the wind, and a sour expression. He was thinking about how bad his day had been so far. Apparently the bash Spiderman shtick hadn't been catching on lately. People seemed bored of it now, like Spiderman was old news. Even that anonymous tip about a possible curfew for the bug wasn't gaining as much traction as he had hoped. As Jameson walked he wondered what he was going to do next.

At that moment his wide brimmed hat blew off his head due to a gust of wind. He ended up chasing it into an alley. After catching and putting it on he found himself faced to face with a young thug with a gun.

"Give me your money old man," said the crook.

Jameson just started shaking.

**….**

This really is the last straw, Peter thought. That Jameson was really getting on his nerves. He had been annoying before, and now he was interfering in Peter's ability to help people and put criminals away. He walked on, feeling quite bitter.

The next moment Peter suddenly felt alert. His Spider sense was tingling again, and this time it made out a familiar picture. Someone was being mugged at gunpoint nearby. However, Peter didn't have a chance to move before the man being mugged tossed over his wallet and the crook fled. No matter, Peter thought, I can still track the guy down. He chuckled to himself.

It had taken place in the same alley where Peter had first discovered his powers.

He was running to another alley to quickly change when he noticed the people coming out of the alley. The first was a young man with a gun, obviously the crook. The second was the one that surprised him though. It was J. Jonah Jameson, looking the worse for wear. Peter stopped, and watched the crook flee down the sidewalk. Peter know he could do it. It would be all too easy to catch this crook right now.

Peter looked at his watch. It was almost time for school.

The next thing he knew he was walking to school, and not capturing the crook. It was as Jameson had said in his paper, Peter thought. He had places to be, curfews to obey. Besides, why should Peter stick his neck out for someone who had only said bad things about him? Peter was only trying to help people, and Jameson kept ragging on him.

As Peter walked to school he figured he had 'let it go' plenty of times when he realized he needed to keep a deadline. He had other 'responsibilities' than being Spiderman after all. Given that knowledge, he figured he wouldn't do any worse than he had before if he let it go just one more time.

**….**

A few moments later, the man who had robbed Jameson had been picked up by a van. He stepped inside to find a gang of thugs like him, all armed with machine guns. One of them, an olde, scruffy looking man, shook his hand.

"Hey man," he said, and then he noticed the wallet in the thief's hand. "What's that for? You do know we're doing a bigger job today don't you?"

"Yeah," said the first. "Well, the guy I mugged was J. Jonah Jameson."

"Oh," said the thug, understanding. "That's the guy who printed that nasty story about your brother huh?"

"Yeah," he said. "I may be a thug, but my bro was innocent of those charges. If that jury hadn't of read his paper that day…well you know. Anyway, I thought I'd get some payback."

"I like that," said the thug. The other criminals in the van agreed. "I like that. But taking wallets? That's chump change man. We're going for the big scene now. Bank job."

"You got the masks?" asked the thief.

"Interesting story actually," said the thug, bringing out a box. "A buddy of mind owns a sort of Halloween shop, makes costumes and masks you know? Anyway I managed to have him make these special."

He opened the box to reveal plastic Spiderman masks with elastic to keep them on one's face. The thief looked dumbstruck.

"For real man?" he asked. "Is that what I think it is? I thought no one knew what he looked like? No one that hasn't been turned over to the cops anyway."

"That's what I thought," said the thug. "Until I stumbled across this fan site, run by some jock named Flash Thompson. Apparently he saw Spiderman once and had some artist make a likeness. No one's got a picture of him or anything, but we've got an idea what he looked like, so I figured…Spidermen rob the bank. Cruel irony, you know?"

"I like it," said the thief, putting the mask on. Through the mask he said to the other guy. "This is gonna be great man!"

**….**

At that same moment Peter's Uncle Ben was waiting in line at the bank, hoping to do something about the Parker family's money problems. He wore a frown on his face, but he had high hopes that he could improve his family's situation.


	13. Chapter 13

The Marvelous Spider-Man

Chapter Thirteen

By

Jason Richard

"Roadblocks?" asked Harry in disbelief. "You couldn't get to us because of roadblocks? Weren't you walking?"

Peter felt a little nervous. It was a fairly weak story, so both Gwen and Harry were acting suspicious. Standing on the front steps of thier school Peter was having trouble hearing his own thoughts over several construction projects that seemed to be going on around the school that day. Seriously, Peter thought, does the school really need that much maintenance?

"Oh," said Peter. "Well, you see, I was planning to take a shortcut through central park, but that area was pretty much blocked off by the cops. From way I was going I ended up having to take the long way around."

"Central park huh?" asked Gwen with an eyebrow raised. "Wasn't that where Spiderman was yesterday?"

"I didn't stop to watch," said Peter quickly. "Really. I promise. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Gwen sighed. "Alright. But Peter, you really have been…different…lately."

"Yeah Pete," said Harry. "Are you sure everything's…normal for you?"

For a moment, Peter wanted to tell them the truth, but only a moment. "Yeah," he said. "Everything's fine. Let's get to class."

Harry just shrugged and walked on. Gwen gave Peter a hurt look that Peter really wished she wouldn't give him and followed. Peter then walked up the stairs as well. This was getting out of hand. He loved being Spiderman, but he didn't want it to get between him and his friends. He'd get this Kraven guy and make certain Gwen's dad was okay, but after that he figured he'd probably give up this superhero business. It just wasn't going well.

As he followed he noticed, out of the corner of his eye, the principle, walking to school as if everything was normal.

Which Peter knew it wasn't.

It had to be the doppelganger that had been with Kraven the other day. If the imposter had abandoned this disguise the principle would either be reporting a kidnapping to the police, or would be reported missing by friends and family. He would not be walking to school as if nothing had happened. This wasn't good. If the doppelganger was still looking for him, everyone at school was potentially in danger.

Yeah, thought Peter, I'm doing everyone here a great favor by being Spiderman.

He sighed as he was about to go inside the school. Before he did, however, he noticed one of the construction workers walking in the corner of his eye. Mainly he noticed a pair of goggles in his hand. That particular pair Peter recognized from a recent science magazine. It had heat vision capability, pretty high end. What it was doing at a school Peter didn't know. He didn't realize this school had that kind of budget, but he didn't pay it much mind. He went to class, hoping his situation would get better soon.

**….**

And as uncle Ben waited to be served at the bank, he had similar hopes.

He sat on a cushioned bench while he waited for a bank representative to become available. He twiddled his thumbs as he watched people go by in the lobby. There seemed to be a lot of people at the bank, more so than usual. Well, these were trying times after all. Everyone wanted to enact a plan for the future, and Ben Parker was no different.

Still, the wait was getting to him. If something didn't happen soon he felt he would lose his mind. Little did he realize that in a minute he'd be reminding himself to be careful what he wished for.

Armed men in red masks suddenly burst into the building. One of them shot a round at the ceiling and another shouted for everyone to get down. The next thing Ben knew Ben was being herded with some screaming people to the center of the room. He ended up kneeling down in the center of the room, one hostage among many, with armed gunman circling him. He sighed.

"Careful what you wish for," he told himself.

**….**

A few minutes later Captain Stacy was in a surveillance van, ready to deal with another hostage crisis. He wondered if it would be like the other two times. Would the criminals bother with hostages at all, or was this just another trap for Spiderman?

"What do we have?" he asked.

A younger officer said, "Seven armed Gunman, and they have hostages. We got the call from them earlier as well. So far they've just warned us not to enter or they'll start killing hostages. They say they'll call back later with their demands."

Nothing out of the ordinary then, Captain Stacy thought. "Any other details?"

"Nothing useful," was the reply. "Though one thing is kind of interesting. Apparently the crooks have Spiderman masks on."

That surprised Captain Stacy. He was half expecting this to be another trap for Spiderman, but if that was the case then there was no point for the Spiderman masks. They would almost alert Spiderman to a trap. Captain Stacy's instincts were telling him that this was just a bank robbery, and that the hostages were in real danger. That was going to make this more difficult, all things considered.

**….**

The Chameleon, meanwhile, heard the police radio in the principal's office. He grinned to himself. This was the perfect opportunity to flush the Spider out of hiding, what with Kraven on downtime waiting for appropriate weapons. He had to be careful about how he did this, but if all went well, the Spider would be in his grasp.

He just had to make certain the Spider knew about the situation at the bank. Fortunately the Chameleon, still acting as the school's principal, had made preparations for just such an event.

He cracked his fingers, and then got on the school's announcement system.

**….**

That's strange; Peter thought as he got out of class, I've never seen that student before. Before Peter stood a high school student next to a fire alarm. He was a senior, and almost looked like he could be in college. Peter also thought he saw, in that kid's hand, that same kind of goggles that the construction workers had, but he didn't get a chance to check. There were a lot of students around him, and he had to keep moving or else get crushed by the crowd. He decided not to worry about it, even know he knew a highschooler standing next to a fire alarm for any amount of time was bound to cause trouble.

Then, an announcement came over the loudspeaker.

"All students please convene in the school gym for a rally to support our football team. All students that comply will get a hall pass for this period."

The shouts of students cheering for this was overwhelming. Meanwhile teachers around the area were shaking their heads. Peter overhead two of them talking.

"I know it's for the football team," said the history teacher, who shook her head. "But does he have to announce this out of the blue? What is he thinking?"

""It's a bit irregular," said a younger teacher. "But he did warn us about this. Maybe this will get the team out of this year's slump."

"Well," said the history teacher. "If Flash Thompson spent more time practicing and less time updating his Spiderman fan blog that might get us out of this slump too."

Peter didn't listen to the rest of the conversation as he got out of earshot. As he walked he thought two things. First, that Flash Thompson neglecting his precious football to support his hero who was also his school nemesis was a satisfying thought. Secondly he thought that the Principle's doppelganger was up to something. The question was, what?

As he entered the gym, he figured there was only one way to find out.

He also thought that all the vibrations from construction machines surrounding the school were quite annoying. It was seriously messing with his Spider Sense.

**….**

Captain Stacy got the call faster than he expected, but he didn't mind. He hated the waiting. He picked up the receiver and listened.

"Alright," said the voice of a young man. "My demands are simple. In one hour I want the police gone from the outside of the building. If they aren't gone, we kill a hostage."

"You know I can't do that," said Captain Stacy calmly. "I can't just abandon those hostages like that."

**….**

Inside the bank's lobby Ben Parker watched as the crook in a red mask talked on a cell phone.

"You're worried about the hostages huh?" The criminal said before pointed his pistol at a random hostage and shot him in the leg. Hostages gasped and screamed, but none louder than the poor man who had just been shot. The crook then pointed his gun at another hostage and said, "You, bandage him up." The poor woman nodded and went over to the wounded man.

Meanwhile, Ben could hear Captain Stacy shouting over the phone, asking what just happened. The crook answered coldly.

"Relax old man," he said. "The hostage is still alive, I just shot him in the leg. That's the least of your worries. What you should be worried about is what I'm going to do in an hour." And he hung up.

Ben had been watching with a look of horror in his face. He realized he was shaking, and all he could think about was that he wanted to get home to May and Peter.

**….**

The school gym was pretty much a huge party.

Strewn across one of the basketball goals was a banner with their team name, the Mustangs, written in large green letters. Music was blaring from a large stereo system feeding from a local radio station. Flash Thompson and the other football heroes walked through the parting crowd of student to the elevated platform under the banner to meet with the principle and other teachers. As he went by, he bumped Peter in the shoulder, hard. Peter didn't stumble, but he glared, easily getting Flash's message.

"Whoops!" said Flash. "Sorry Puny Parker." A few other athletes laughed and Peter rolled his eyes.

A few moments later.

"No Flash!" cried a football player. "We are not renaming our team the Spiders! Man, give it a rest!"

"Aw come on!" said Flash.

Peter grinned. He was still planning to quite being Spiderman after he found a way to beat Kraven, but he had to admit. He would miss the hero worship from his ignorant high school nemesis.

A moment later, the radio switched to a news broadcast. Despite groans from the students, no one switched the radio to a different station.

The news report said:

"Attention citizens of New York City, a bank robbery is currently taking place at the financial district downtown. Citizens are advised to stay away from the area as the robbers are armed and dangerous and have already taken several hostages."

A few moments later the music was playing again. Most students were ignored the broadcast and got on with the party to honor the football team. Peter, however, knew something everyone else didn't.

This was why the principle's doppelganger had set this party up. It was all to make certain Spiderman knew about the situation downtown. Suddenly all the construction around the school, sending vibrations through his body, made sense. They weren't there to work on the school, they were there to watch the exits. Doors, windows, air vents, anything Peter might use to get out was blocked off now that he was paying attention with his spider sense. Peter was willing to bet that the students loitering in the halls were there to watch the fire alarms in case Spiderman tried to escape in a panic. Sure enough the fire alarm in the gym was being guarded by someone just hanging out, someone that Peter didn't' recognize. If Spiderman tried to escape, they'd know. Peter also felt carefully with his Spider Sense. People were waiting near the lockers as well, which was the only place to safely store his Spiderman suit and web shooters. This imposter had thought of everything.

No matter, thought Peter, I just won't go this time. I won't do anyone any good if I compromise my identity. As he saw Harry in the crowd, and a moment later Gwen, he thought to himself that Captain Stacy would be there.

Surely he wasn't going to let anyone get hurt.

**….**

Captain Stacy didn't like it when people got hurt under his watch, but that is exactly what had happened. The hostage wasn't dead, but shooting him in the leg meant that these guys were serious. As it stood, Captain Stacy didn't know if he could keep anyone safe here. The best he could do was pull his regular cops out and put snipers up, out of sight.

That's exactly what he was doing when he got the call. The surveillance van was getting out of sight as he picked up the phone. It was from May Parker.

"Hello," said Captain Stacy.

"Mr. Stacy!" said May frantically. "Ben went to the bank earlier, and he hasn't come home yet! Please! He can't be in there can he?! Mr. Stacy!"

Captain Stacy just shook, finding himself unable to respond.


	14. Chapter 14

The Marvelous Spider-Man

Chapter Fourteen

By

Jason Richard

"You know," said Peter. "Normally I'd be happy to have a free period, but not to honor Flash Thompson."

For sure enough Flash was strutting smugly across the stage with the rest of his football goons while the crowd of students cheered them on."

"Yeah," said Harry. "I know. But a free period is a free period either way."

"Way to look on the brightside Harry," said Gwen.

"You got that right," said Peter. Suddenly his cell phone rang. He pulled it out and it said, "Aunt May."

"Excuse me," he said, walking off. He answered when he was outside the gym.

"Hey Aunt May," he said. "What's up?"

"Peter," said Aunt May, sounding like she had something difficult to say. "Your uncle…"

Peter didn't' like the tone in her voice. "What is it?" he asked. "What's wrong with Uncle Ben?"

"He's…" she answered. "There's a bank robbery and…"

"Whoa, whoa," said Peter. "Slow down. What does Uncle Ben have to do with the robbery? I mean it's not like he…"

The truth hit him in the face harder than any of Kraven's blows could have, right before Aunt May spoke again.

"He's there," she said. "He's at that bank."

Peter had never been more frightened in his life than he was at that moment.

Now he had to get out of that school.

"It's okay," he told his Aunt, even though he didn't' fully believe it himself. "It's okay, Uncle Ben will be fine. Mr. Stacy is with him, and he won't let anyone get hurt. Alright? There's no need to worry."

He could hear her over the phone, taking deep breaths.

"Yes," she said. "Of course. I know. I'm just so worried…"

"It's alright," said Peter, with some difficulty. "He'll be fine. Thanks for telling me."

They said their goodbyes and hung up. Despite his reassurances he was shaking. He had to get down the bank, soon. However, Peter had been paying attention with his Spider Sense and, despite the vibrations from the construction machines outside, he was able to tell all the places the Doppelganger had placed people.

He had been very thorough.

The exits were guarded, so he couldn't just leave. The lockers and bathrooms were under watch, so he couldn't just grab his gear to change in private, and the fire alarms were under guard, so he couldn't escape in some sort of panic. He tried to enter an empty classroom, but that was locked, so he couldn't change there as well. He really was blocked off from leaving.

But the doppelganger had missed one little detail.

His uncle was a hostage. He could get his stuff and leave, and if anyone asked or noticed he would make an act (where he wouldn't really have to act) of being worried about his uncle. He could slip out and no one would suspect him of being Spiderman. He grinned to himself as he walked off. I can do this, he thought. I can save him, I just need to…

"Peter?"

Peter froze, and then turned around to see Harry.

"What was the call about?" asked Harry.

"Uh," said Peter. "Nothing. Wrong number. I'll be back in a minute, I just need to use the bathroom."

"Okay," said Harry.

They walked away from each other and Peter cursed his bad luck. He couldn't just slip out. If he told Harry and Gwen he went to the robbery Captain Stacy would know if Peter Parker hadn't show up. If he said he went to comfort Aunt May she'd report the same thing. No, he had to find another way out…but with all the security the imposter had put up…

The imposter, the reason he couldn't tell anyone he was Spiderman. Who knows what the doppelganger would do if he found out Gwen and Harry knew his identity. If they got hurt because of him he could never forgive himself. That being said if he didn't get to the bank on time he'd never forgive himself for that either.

He walked past the bathroom and told himself to calm down. First thing's first, he figured. He had to get his Spiderman suit and web shooters. Once that was done he'd find a way out. One step at a time.

Besides, he had time. Captain Stacy wasn't going to let anything happen to his uncle.

…**.**

BANG!

Captain Stacy heard the shot from over the phone, and clenched the fist of his free hand in anger, though took deep breaths to remain calm.

"That was one hostage," said the crook over the phone. "Get your cops out of my sight and the others will be fine. Oh, and I know you probably have snipers out there, I want those gone as well."

Click.

Captain Stacy didn't like this, not one bit. He would make certain to keep his men out of sight, but he wasn't ready to give up just yet. Worse come to worse he would have to send the swats in to flush them out. Considering how violent these guys were he couldn't leave the hostages in their care for another hour, regardless of their threats. He didn't like this though, not one bit. He tried to keep it out of his mind that Ben Parker was in there. He couldn't afford to let himself be emotionally compromised after all, but there was one thing that was eating away at him.

Where was Spiderman in all of this?

…**.**

Two guys patrolling the hallway lockers. They were young enough to pass for high school seniors but they were actually eighteen, and had criminal records…along with tranquilizer guns hidden in their jackets.  
Suddenly the lights in the hall went off, one by one.

While one of them went to check it out, Peter snuck by the other on the ceiling. He crawled to his locker and quickly, with one finger sticking to the dial, undid the lock, silently opened it, took out his backpack, and closed the locker. In a moment he was crawling away. As the lights came back one he took one more look at the guy he had snuck past.

He was putting on those heat goggles.

As Peter just barely made it out of range he realized he was more trapped than he had thought. He had been thinking about using stealth webbing to pull the fire alarm, but if the doppelganger's cronies had heat vision that was problematic. He dropped and hid in a corner, once again cursing his terrible luck. His stealth webbing was invisible to the naked eye, but it would show up on heat goggles.

After all, the chemical reaction to create stealth webbing from web fluid involved heat.

"Now what?" he asked himself

…**.**

"Anything yet?" Dmitri asked over a hidden receiver in his ear. He sat in the principal's office, and at that moment he was out of his disguise, his principle mask laying on the desk.

"Nothing yet sir," came the voice of a sniper Dmitri had hired. The sniper was currently sitting in the school gym, hidden in the rafters above and watching with heat vision goggles. He had a tranquilizer rifle ready for when the Spider showed himself.

"And you?" asked Dmitri, changing frequency.

"Nothing," said one of the men in a construction uniform guarding the outside of the school. "He's keeping quite."

"He's taking his time to make his move," said Dmitri, arranging chess pieces on a board to amuse himself. "Smart overall, but he's on a timer, so he has to move soon. Keep an eye out."

"Yes sir."

"You're move Spider," said Dmitri, grinning. The white king on the board was completely surrounded by black pieces.

…**.**

As Peter snuck through the school with his backpack, using his Spider Sense to track the vibrations of his enemy's footsteps and slip by them, he wondered how he was going to get out. The lockers were one thing. There were so many of them that it was impossible to watch all of them at once, but the exits and the fire alarms were another story. No way Peter could get close to those without revealing himself. There was at least one man for each of those, and they all had heat vision.

Having to keep moving he didn't have time to change into Spiderman either. He thought about just putting the mask on, but didn't think that was a viable option. If this Doppelganger was really this good, like a spy or something, he might figure who Spiderman was by his clothing. Peter still needed a way out undetected.

Peter decided on the fire alarm, as it would give him plenty of cover, and give Harry and Gwen a chance to escape as well. The safer they were the better. Still, how to do it? He could use his steel webbing, with used cold temperatures in its chemical reaction, but that had the opposite problem. Everyone would see that, and he'd be given away.

He clenched his fist as he hid in a corner for a tiny moment. He was running out of time. Uncle Ben needed him. So, which to use? The Stealth Webbing, or the Steele Webbing?

Then it hit him.

Why not use both?

He headed for the gym, still avoiding the sentries. He'd have to get this just right, otherwise it could blow up in his face, but if it worked…he grinned. It would get everyone out, and he'd be on his way to Uncle Ben.

…**.**

Dmitri was getting tired of waiting. He knew the Spider had to make a move soon. From the police radio two hostages were already dead, and more would follow. So far the police had been unable to make a move, though he didn't know the details on that. The Spider would have to do it…if he could escape the Chameleon's net.

Finally, Dmitri's wait was over.

"Sir!" shouted one of the snipers. "I see a line in the heat vision!"

The invisible webbing! Dmitri thought. "Quick," he said loudly. "Shoot him!"

"I can't sir!" came the befuddled reply. "He's not at the other end of the line!"

What trickery was this…Dmitri thought. Suddenly the school's fire alarm sounded. Naturally the students would be escaping the gym in a panic with the Spider hidden among them. Dmitri cursed in Russian and grabbed his principle mask.

…**.**

The gym was empty, and Dmitri, disguised as the principle, found the line of stealth webbing, tracing it back from the fire alarm to a web shooter webbed to the underside of the gym's bleachers. Meanwhile a visible strand of webbing was attached to the inner mechanism, along with two others attached to the sides of the device, and they trailed along behind the bleachers. Dmitri could have laughed. So that's how the Spider had done it.

He had stuck the web shooter there at just the right angle so that when he tugged on the first strand it would trigger the device and hit the fire alarm. Then, using the other strands, he twisted the device to pull the alarm. And impossible shot for a normal human being, but for one with the enhanced senses of a Spider, and possibly a good knowledge of the physics involved, it would be possible for Spiderman to do it.

Dmitri didn't have to touch the visible webbing to know it was the steel cold webbing that Sergei had encountered, and it was easy to figure out what had happened. No one saw the invisible strand, and the visible one was hidden behind the bleachers. Meanwhile the sniper could see the stealth webbing, but the cold webbing was invisible to him, so he didn't get an accurate fix on the Spider's location in time, even though he was an angle to shoot anyone under the bleachers. The Spider may have sacrificed one of his web shooters, but he had done so to get out unnoticed.

Well played Spider, thought Dmitri, musing to himself. You outwitted the infamous Chameleon. Well done. However, you took your time to do it, and time is off the essence given where you are headed. People have already died, so I wonder if you will get there on time to save anyone else.

With that Dmitri, the Chameleon, departed from the school

…**.**

Meanwhile Spiderman, with but a single web shooter on his wrist, swung as fast as he could towards the bank robbery. He was not going to get his uncle die. He told himself that over and over.

Uncle Ben, he thought, I'm coming for you.


	15. Chapter 15

The Marvelous Spider-Man

Chapter Fifteen

By

Jason Richard

Every time that man pointed his gun at someone Ben Parker cringed. Both times that man had killed a hostage, Ben Parker would have sworn his heart had stopped. That man was ruthless, and made Ben think of surviving. As he sat next to the rest of the terrified hostages, watching the armed men walk around them, all Ben wanted was to get home to his wife and nephew.

His wife and son.

…**.**

Peter swung through the city in full costume faster than he had ever swung before, but he didn't feel the usual rush he got from web swinging. He was numb to the wind hitting his face, the buildings going by, and the vertigo of seeing the ground getting closer and farther away. None of it mattered like it usually did. He had one purpose now.

To save Uncle Ben.

It was harder, though. Having only a single web shooter made it difficult to change direction quickly, but he tried not to think of that. He went on, keeping his destination in mind.

…**.**

It had happened so fast. Captain Stacy had given the order for the swats to head in, only to find that the entrances had been booby trapped with explosives. One moment the swats were sneaking in, the next…

A few deaths and heavy casualties were on his hands now, and Captain Stacy couldn't fathom what was going to happen next. As he paced back and forth inside the surveillance van he kept looking at the phone, wondering what the crooks inside would do next. It had been too long, he kept thinking. Of course he found it hard to think with the Media outside. A few reporters were at the scene now, just taking it all in. Captain Stacy had feed from a news station on one of the monitors, just in case the reporters noticed something he didn't, but he still found their presence a little annoying.

Suddenly Captain Stacy got a call on his radio.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Sir," came the voice of a cop. "We've got a hostage at the front door of the bank. No view of the robbers, but we can assume the hostage is at gunpoint. He's just standing there with his hands up."

Captain Stacy didn't like this. Now the crooks wanted people to see hostages dying? No doubt this was because the media was present. They probably wanted their fifteen minutes of fame right next to their money. He looked at the screen and saw the hostage.

He froze.

It was Ben Parker.

The phone that he had been talking to the crooks with started ringing.

…**.**

May Parker flipped on the television, hoping the news might tell her something about the robbery…and about her husband. The reporter started talking about someone being shown at the front of the bank. The next thing she saw was her husband with his hands in the air.

She started to tremble.

…**.**

"What do you think happened to Peter?" Gwen asked Harry as they walked through the city.

"Don't know," said Harry. "He probably left school with everyone else."

"But he was gone long before that," said Gwen with her eyebrows crossed.

They stopped in front of an electronics store where the news was playing on all the televisions. Harry figured he'd rather watch that than Gwen at that moment. He didn't like the look on her face.

"You don't think he pulled the fire alarm do you?" Harry asked.

"I don't know," said Gwen. "Peter's been acting so strange lately. I don't know why, but I just can't shake the feeling that he's hiding something. I just…"

"Gwen," said Harry. "You should see this."

Gwen looked over. He was watching the news on the televisions in the store window. She was going to ask what the problem was, but then she saw.

Uncle Ben at the front of the bank.

…**.**

"Just a little further," said Peter as he swung through the city. "Just a little further." People saw the red and blue blur go by and pointed, but Peter paid them no mind. He just swung forward, telling himself that the bank was, "Just a little further."

…**.**

Captain Stacey picked up nervously, the image of Ben Parker on the screen in front of him. He spoke, thinking very carefully about what he had to say. Very little came to mind.

"Hello," he said.

"I'm tired of this game," said the crook over the line. "I know you still have cops around here. I want them gone."

"I could get rid of them, yes," said Captain Stacy carefully. "But that would only be a temporary win for you. Even if you pull something like this off you won't get away with it. The people you've already killed made sure of that. Even if you make it out of there with the money you'll still be hunted down."

"You don't get it do you?" said the crook. "You can see the hostage I'm about to kill right? He's on display for you after all."

Captain Stacy looked at Ben Parker on the screen and said, "Yes I see him."

"Good. Then you'll see for yourself what happens when you mess with me!"

"Wait!" Captain Stacy yelled.

"Yes?" asked the crook impatiently.

Captain Stacy was shaking. What could he do? What could he say?

Out of a monitor in the corner of his eye he saw Spiderman swinging towards the bank.

"Alright!" said Captain Stacy. "You win. I'll move the cops back. We're all just going back to the precinct. You win, just don't kill anyone else!"

The pause that followed was torture.

"Good," said the crook. "You do that. But it was too late for this one anyway. Just do as you promise and he'll be the last one. I promise."

"No! Don't do it!" Captain Stacy yelled at the top of his lungs.

…**.**

Peter swung in, ready to break up the robbery, as he approached the glass doors of the bank from above he saw someone there with his hands up. Relief passed over him when he saw it was Uncle Ben. He was alright after all. But why was he standing there with his hands up?

Something wasn't right.

Peter shot a line of web right at the building to pull himself inside. Suddenly the vibrations through the cord told him where the crooks where. One was behind Uncle Ben with a gun pointed at him. Peter suddenly felt cold as he looked Uncle Ben in the eyes.

Uncle Ben was terrified.

Peter yanked hard and shot himself at the bank, yelling at the top of his lungs, "No!"

Time seemed to flow even slower than normal for Peter…

As he saw the bullet pass from a shadow in the corner and into his Uncle.

…**.**

May Parker, Gwen Stacy, Harry Osborn, and Captain Stacy, all watched in horror as the news footage captured the death of Ben Parker, who fell to the ground. All of them were horrified, especially May.

…**.**

Peter crashed through the glass as Uncle Ben fell. Crooks everywhere cringed and hostages screamed. Peter landed and watched his Uncle Ben stop moving in horror. He looked over to the crook who had fired the shot, his face hidden in a plastic red mask that looked vaguely familiar. The crook was as disoriented as everyone else, but he aimed his gun to fire.

Peter dodged, and in a fit of rage shot a line behind the crook and pulled himself forward. He yelled at the top of his lungs and punched the crook with all his might.

The plastic mask shattered, and Peter saw the face of the man who had shot his uncle.

It was the thief Peter had let go earlier.

As the crook fell Peter looked on in horror. No, he thought. It can't be. It can't be.

He didn't have time to think about it for long though.

Peter's Spider Sense tingled. The crooks were aiming their weapons at him. Spiderman ducked under the bullet that whizzed over his head as he spun around, firing stealth webbing with a silencer function he had developed for his web shooter. The crooks fired again but Spiderman leaped into the air, spinning around rabidly. Thin strands of webbing caught the light as they spun around Spiderman, and the crooks realized only too late that the strands were connected to their guns.

The weapons were pulled out of their hands by Peter's spinning motion, and with another spinning throw he sent the weapons flying, setting up a steel hard web for them to land in. Peter landed on the ground, and set up another visible web on the only exit.

He did not want these crooks wearing his mask to escape.

Spiderman stood with his fists clenched. With their weapons disabled the crooks hesitated until one of them screamed and pulled out a knife. He ran towards Spiderman while the rest of the crooks pulled out knives of their own. The next thing he knew Spiderman was dodging knife blows and flipping over these guys, kicking and punching them every which way. One blow was enough to send a crook flying and land unconscious on the ground

In a few moments there were three crooks left, and they tried to run, but Spiderman would have none of it. He quickly caught them with three strands of webbing and yanked them back. He hit them one at a time, a blow to the left, the second to the right, and then the final blow send the third crook pummeling into the floor.

And just like that all of the crooks were down.

Breathing heavily, Peter looked. The hostages had already fled, and the police couldn't enter through the front door. He was alone with Uncle Ben. He had to get him to a hospital, fast.

He ran to where his uncle lay and almost ripped his mask off.

"Uncle Ben!" he cried, pulling him up and putting pressure on the wound in his back to stop the flow of blood. He could feel Uncle Ben's hear beating, so he figured there was still time. "Uncle Ben!" he said forcefully.

Ben Parker opening his eyes as if he was having trouble seeing. "Peter," he said dreamily. "Is that you?" He saw the outfit. "Am I dreaming?"

"Yeah," said Peter. "Sure, this is a dream. Now come on, we've got to get you to a hospital alright?"

He tried to move his uncle, but the next thing he knew more blood was spilling out and Uncle Ben was crying out in pain! Peter immediately stopped and put pressure back on the wound. Something must have been wrong. It wasn't safe to move him.

"We need paramedics in here!" he cried.

No one answered. Peter was flustered, and terribly afraid. He didn't know what to do. He looked around desperately for a solution to this…something…anything…

"I'm sorry Peter," said Uncle Ben.

"Sorry?" asked Peter, still looking around. "What do you have to be sorry for?"

"I'm going to have to leave you…"

"No."

"You'll be man of the house soon…"

"Don't say that,"

"That's too much responsibility for someone your age…and you've taken too many responsibilities already…by the look of things."

Despite himself Peter laughed, and then he shook his head. "This great power huh? With great power comes great responsibility. That's good advice. What else you got?"

Uncle Ben laughed, and then coughed.

"Okay," said Peter, cursing himself being so stupid. "Stay calm Uncle Ben. Paramedics will be here soon. You just have to hold on a little longer."

Peter could feel his uncle's heartbeat slowing.

"Well," said Uncle Ben. "I'm glad I left you with something. Good advice. All I have to give…"

"Don't say that…" said Peter. "You'll be around to give me plenty more advice, just you wait."

Uncle Ben placed his hand on Peter's cheek. "Still like your father. He never liked to admit defeat either. Still, you did save a lot of people today."

"Yeah," said Peter. "And you're one of them. Stop this defeat talk. You'll be…"

"I know," said Uncle Ben. "That you would have made me proud."

"Stop it," said Peter. "Just stop…

"Goodbye," said Ben Parker. "Good…"

And his uncle went limp in his hands. His heart was no longer beating either. Peter started shaking.

"Uncle Ben?" he asked, but there was no answer. "Uncle Ben?"

Again no answer, and Peter knew there never would be. He found himself embracing his Uncle's body, and weeping.

A moment later, when Captain Stacy entered the scene, he found Ben Parker, dead.

…**.**

Captain Stacy walked up to the Parker home to do the worst thing he ever had to do as a police officer. Inform family of someone's death. The fact that he knew them made it harder, nevertheless he felt it his responsibility, and wouldn't let anyone else take this burden. He approached the door and was about to knock, but then he heard something, a sound that made his stomach feel like it was being twisted inside him.

He turned back.

As he approached the police car, one of the younger officers asked him, "Sir? You're not going to tell them."

"They already know," said Captain Stacy sadly as he got in the car. For of course the sound that he had heard was May Parker's sobs. As Captain Stacy drove off he didn't notice Peter sitting on the roof of the house. He could feel his aunt crying through the woodwork of the house, and it made him want to sob even more than he already had.


	16. Chapter 16

The Marvelous Spider-Man

Chapter Sixteen

By

Jason Richard

No, Peter thought, no, don't go in there. He saw his uncle entering the bank, unaware of the danger inside. Peter had to stop him, but when he tried to move he found himself caught in a giant web. Peter wanted to scream at his Uncle Ben to run, but a strand of webbing around his neck held his throat shut. He saw his uncle enter the bank, and from the shadows a figure with a gun appeared. Peter watched helplessly as he saw the bullet enter his uncle, who fell to the ground. Peter yelled, and then saw the figure that had killed his uncle emerge from the shadows, a smoking gun still in his hand.

Spiderman had just killed his uncle.

**….**

Peter woke up in the middle of the night with a little scream. He found himself breathing heavily and sweating. In a moment the events of the previous day came back to him.

His Uncle was dead.

Peter lay back, wanting to cry again. He had felt that way so many times already it was making him feel sick. He turned over, but somehow he knew he wasn't going to get any more sleep.

He didn't.

**….**

Peter passed by his Aunt's room early in the morning. The door was open just a little bit, so Peter peeked inside. He saw her sitting on the bed, head bent in sadness. Slowly opened the door and entered.

"Good morning," said Peter solemnly.

"Hello dear," said his aunt sadly.

He went over and hugged her for a few moments, but they did say anything else to each other. After what had happened, what else was there to say?

A few minutes later Peter found himself at the kitchen table, forcing himself to eat something, despite the feelings in his stomach. Peter just couldn't get over the fact that his uncle was dead.

And it was partially his fault.

Sure, there were other people at the bank, but it was the just the one that did all the shootings. On the news survivors of the hostage crisis talked about how that one man scared them more than any of the others. He seemed to be one of the leaders, and had taken it on himself to kill hostages when the cops didn't cooperate. Even though there were other people robbing the bank, Peter had let a dangerous man stay on the streets just to get back at Jameson for some bad publicity.

It had not been worth it.

Speaking of Jameson Peter looked at the Daily Bugle still rolled up in the plastic sleeve it was delivered in. He wondered if Jameson had decided to print something about the disaster. He took it, pulled it out, and read the title:

"As Hostages Die, Spider-Man Plays Fire Alarm Prank at High School."

Peter let out a groan and banged his forehead on the table.

**….**

The funeral wasn't for a couple of weeks, and after a few days to get over the initial shock Peter ended up going to school. Walking up the front door seemed such a strangely normal thing to do, but Peter did it anyway. Perhaps it was for that very reason, because it was normal, that Peter did it. Maybe it was easier to pretend nothing had happened, Peter thought, but it didn't seem to help. It was dark and grey overhead, and thunder flashed. A gloomy day for a broken spirit, Peter mused. Gwen and Harry were waiting for him by the front doors, as he expected, but that didn't make him feel much better. When they had called, the day after "it" had happened, he had told them they didn't have to come over. He made it clear he preferred to be alone then, but now that he saw them he felt silly for feeling that way.

"Hey," said Gwen, a concerned look in her eye.

"Hey Pete," said Harry. "How have you been?"

"Terrible," said Peter.

They stood there for a moment, and then Gwen hugged Peter. Peter hugged back, and Harry shifted awkwardly for a few seconds, until Gwen looked at him with a seriously look on his face. It took a second for him to get the hint and they were soon in a group hug.

Peter wanted to cry again.

A few minutes later they were inside and Peter was passing Flash Thompson, who stopped, looked at Peter and said, "Sorry about your uncle dude." Before walking on. Peter stopped walking for a moment. Harry and Gwen looked at him with concern again.

Even Flash Thompson pitied him now? Just how far had Peter fallen? How could he go on without his Uncle there? What would he do now?

**….**

Peter did spend the afternoon with Harry and Gwen, mostly studying. Afterwards Peter walked through the city. It was late at night, and the sun had set long ago. Peter considered making a few rounds as Spiderman, but for the first time he wondered what the point would be. It's not like Spiderman had saved Uncle Ben. Besides, the city was quite that night. Not a siren could be heard.

His curfew was almost up, and he figured he needed to get home to his aunt, so he went as quickly as possible. However, he finally heard a siren in the distance. At that moment he hesitated. He really didn't feel like getting involved. But then…the last two times he had let it go had both ended up in disaster. People had died, and now Peter understood the pain people went through when that happened.

He had the power to do something about it. Didn't he also have the responsibility?

With great power comes great responsibility. Uncle Ben had been talking about it in reference to someone he had never met, so he had just said it in passing. The trouble was, the man that Uncle Ben supposedly never met was actually Peter, so in a roundabout way that piece of wisdom had been meant for him all along. Why hadn't Peter taken it more seriously? He only used the power when he felt like it, or when it was convenient. The moment things became hard, when Kraven showed up, the first thing that came to Peter's mind was to give up. That wasn't being responsible, that was being cowardly. Peter realized that with his great power, he did have a great responsibility.

To make certain no one else felt the pain he was feeling right now.

All of this went through Peter's mind in a moment as the sirens got farther and farther away, and the next moment his phone went off. He knew what it was. It was an alarm for his curfew. He reached into his pocket and silenced the device.

"I'm sorry Aunt May," Peter whispered to himself. "I'm not going to be home on time."

And with that he darted into an alley. A moment later Spiderman swung out, and headed in the direction of the sirens. Meanwhile Aunt May sat at the kitchen table, waiting for her only remaining family to come home.


	17. Chapter 17

The Marvelous Spider-Man

Chapter Seventeen

By

Jason Richard

**Two Weeks Later.**

Jameson sat in his office with a scowl. Nothing had happened in New York for a while now. Nothing newsworthy anyway. Furthermore he hadn't had much luck finding dirt on Spiderman. After the bank robbery Spiderman had done a complete one eighty and was now this upstanding citizen. Sightings of him had increased dramatically as well, and he was now stopping almost every crime that took place in the city. There were also a few road and construction accidents avoided thanks to him. He was even being seen past his original "curfew," well into the evening hours. As a result crime rates had, in just two weeks, dropped significantly. Most papers were reporting on his good Samaritan behavior. Meanwhile the Daily Bugle printed stories about a masked vigilante who got in the way of police business. Strangely though, people seemed to prefer the story of the hero, and the Bugle had been underselling for a week and a half.

He was not happy about it.

As Jameson thought this over, the phone rang. He picked it up and spoke in a loud voice.

"What?!"

"Nice to talk to you dad," said a young man."

At the sound of that voice Jameson's mood improved considerably.

"John? Is that you? Hey, how's my boy been doing? I thought you were still in orbit in that super-fast shuttle thing/"

"The XK-88 Mark 10 Shuttle," John Jameson corrected. "And yes, I am. I'm hijacking a nearby satellite to make this call."

"You can do that?" said Jameson, surprised.

"I'm talking to you aren't I?" said John teasingly.

Jameson grunted and said, "Good point."

"Listen," said John. "I just wanted to let you know that we're landing tomorrow. We've actually been to the far side of mars in this thing, but now were back to tell the tale."

"Hey that's great news," said Jameson. "And who would know better what makes good news than the editor of a major newspaper like myself. I can see the headline now. 'John Jameson Returns from a Real Mission to Mars!' I'll just go and print that for you and it'll be ready for when you get back. I'm proud of you John."

"I know dad," said John. "See you when I land?"

"Try and stop me," said Jameson.

They hung up and Jameson stood and walked to the front door of his office to get the ball rolling on this story. Forget Spiderman, this was the biggest news story he could get. His son was coming home!

I'll have a party, he thought. Just like that guy did for the prodigal son. Only my son will be a hero, not some lazy bum who came home broke. Jameson grinned smugly before he opened his office door to share the news with the Daily Bugle Staff.

**….**

Captain Stacy sat at his desk going over paperwork. He seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. He put down his pen for a moment to let his brain settle for a bit. He rubbed his head and looked out of his office. Most of the officers out there were quiet, still, and very bored. It seemed Spiderman had been working overtime lately. Prisons had been filling at an alarming rate, and now crime had dropped so much that Captain Stacy found himself with nothing to do all day except fill out paperwork. Lately he found himself looking for something to happen.

Anything but a bank robbery though.

He sighed, and then tapped his fingers on the table. This Kraven figure hadn't been seen in a while either, which was strange. What was he waiting for anyway? Captain Stacy's instincts told him that something was wrong. Not that it mattered. With Spiderman on the streets there didn't seem to be any need for cops, and if cops weren't needed for the normal stuff what could someone like him do against Kraven. Once again Captain Stacy wondered just what purposed he served.

He severely hoped it wasn't limited to paperwork as he went back to doing just that.

**….**

Harry sat watching the camera feed on his father's computer. The front lobby of the building was empty, but Harry had come to expect that. Peter hadn't shown up, and harry doubted he would.

Meanwhile, Gwen was on the phone with Peter's Aunt.

"No, Miss Parker," said Gwen. "He's not here."

"Oh I see," said May. Gwen could tell that she was disappointed. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. He's been different ever since Ben died."

No, thought Gwen, he'd been different before that. Being late for things and not telling people where he had gone? That wasn't exactly new…though Peter falling asleep in class certainly was. It had just gotten a lot worse when his uncle died. As much as Gwen felt that way, though, she didn't want to tell Peter's Aunt her suspicions. The poor woman was suffering enough these days.

"Well," said May. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," said Gwen. "I'll let you know if he shows up."

They hung up, and Gwen felt like throwing the phone in frustration. Yes, his uncle had died, but he wasn't the only one suffering. He wasn't going to help anyone, least of all himself, by…what was he doing exactly? Whatever it was it had to be something selfish. She was convinced of it.

"It's not like that," said Harry, looking at her.

"What?" asked Gwen, surprised.

'"He's not doing something selfish," said Harry. "He just thinks he has something he needs to do."

"How'd you know what I was thinking?" asked Gwen suspiciously. "And how do you know Peter isn't doing something selfish?"

"Well," said Harry. "I knew what you were thinking because I thought the same thing at first. As for Peter…well…I've asked him where's he's been and he's had trouble answering…like he was afraid any answer he might give could be the wrong one."

"Really?" said Gwen. "He just told me he was, 'around.' Whatever that means."

"Yeah," said Harry. "But he was nervous when he said it wasn't he? Besides," Harry reached to a folder that lay on the coffee table and showed the insides to her. "He may not be showing up to help with homework, but he's been leaving me study guides…that's helped. Sort of."

Gwen took the folder and looked at it. Sure enough it was Peter's usual hints, only in written form rather than spoken. It was something.

But Gwen still had this nagging doubt.

"He's hiding something," said Gwen, putting the folder down. "I'm sure of it."

"Yeah," said Harry. "I know…I just don't want to believe he's doing this to hurt us."

"I don't think he's trying to hurt us," said Gwen seriously. "I just don't think he's trying hard enough not to."

Peter never showed up that day, but that didn't really surprise either of them.

**….**

Peter had just made a few rounds as Spiderman, picked up one crook, got home, snuck in through his bedroom window, done his homework, made half of a study guide for Harry, and done a few chores, all while making sure he didn't wake his aunt.

Needless to say, he was exhausted.

He lay on his bed, under the covers, still in his day clothes because he had been too tired to change. He was ready for some sleep now, and it was way past his usual bed time. However, he had trouble falling unconscious for the night. He couldn't help but think.

His grades had started to slip for a little bit there. That was to be expected though, with all the "extracurricular activity" he had been engaging in. He had managed to work on some of his schoolwork while web swinging though, and while that did suck all the fun out of it he at least stopped his grades from falling any further. The real problem he was facing was the exhaustion. Once again he was wondering just how he was going to pull off everything he had to do, from schoolwork to chores to being a full time superhero. It just didn't seem to be working.

But he couldn't stop. Not now. He'd managed to save so many people already, and crime rates had been dropping so that, at least, had taken some of the burden off of him. But still…

This was not an easy thing.

As he huddled up, he heard a light tapping on his door.

"Peter," said his Aunt May softly. "Peter, are you there?"

No, no, no. Peter thought. I thought Aunt May was in bed.

"Peter," she said. "I don't know if you're listening, but…I'm worried about you. I know you were broken up about your Uncle but…staying out late and doing who knows what won't help."

It's not like that, Peter thought, huddling up. Please Aunt May, just stop.

"And…well…" May Parker went on. "You should know…we're in trouble. Uncle Ben was at the bank that day because…because…we've been falling behind on our bills lately. I've had to pull from savings just to keep the electricity on and not even your Uncle's Ben's life insurance can sustain us for long …I don't know what we're going to do. Please Peter, if you can hear me…please…just talk to me…" he heard her start to sob. "With Ben gone…I don't know what we're going to…Please…"

She kept pleading, and Peter was horrified. Were they really in that much trouble? But what could he do about it? What could he say? She kept pleading and all the while Peter wished she was stop. Finally she did, but that didn't make Peter feel any better, nor did it make it easier for him to fall asleep.


	18. Chapter 18

The Marvelous Spider-Man

Chapter Eighteen

By

Jason Richard

Dmitri, wearing the principle mask, limped through the hotel hallway, leading a man in a maintenance suit who held a long box that resembled a suitcase. Finally the weapons had been sent from Oscorp, though Dmitri wasn't terribly pleased about it. It meant that Sergei would resume his hunt for the Spider. Still, it was probably for the best. Sergei had been getting impatient, and Dmitri's negotiations to stall the arrival of the weapons by asking for unnecessary safety precautions in the transport of the weapons had only fed that impatience.

Sergei's impatience was, after all, the reason for his limp.

Still, Dmitri was close to figuring out the Spider's identity. He had narrowed it down to three individuals. All three had their grades drop after the incident at the bank, and Spiderman's recent increase in crime fighting would explain that. One of them, a Peter Parker, was a little less suspicious than the other two, as his Uncle had died in the bank incident. He doubted school would matter much to someone in that position.

But he had not yet ruled him out.

The next moment Dmitri had entered the hotel room and taken the suitcase from the maintenance man. Sergei, who was wearing a bathrobe and was wet from shower steam, stepped into the room and took his hyena grin at the sight of the case.

As usual they spoke in Russian.

"Is that them?" he asked. "It had better be, unless you want your other leg limping as well."

"It is," said Dmitri irritably, pulling off the mask and revealing his white face. "Care to take a look?"

Dmitri opened the case to reveal two machetes with black handles. The metal resembled steel, but wasn't as reflective. They also had tiny grooves near the edges. Sergei picked up the weapons by the handles and swung them around. They whistled as they flew through the air and Sergei grinned all the more.

Then he swung one of the blades through a metal lampstand. It cut through with ease and the lamp head fell to the ground.

"Yes," said Sergei. "This will put me back on even ground with the Spider."

"Of course," said Dmitri under his breath. "Because you're all about having a fair fight."

"What was that?" asked Sergei.

"Nothing brother," said Dmitri, irritated, then his tone lightened. "Anyway the blades are made with Wakandan Metal, known as Vi'branogun in its native tongue, and Vibranium among contemporary scientists. Interestingly enough the fact that its name resembles the word 'vibrate' and that the metal is indeed stronger when it absorbs vibrations is purely coincidental. If struck with enough force the vibrations cause the molecules of the metal to pack closer together. The more vibrations, the denser the metal becomes. It's why Captain America's shield is so powerful. The stronger the force against it, the stronger the shield. In the case of those blades vibrations affect the edge of the blades as well, causing those molecules to pack closer together, creating an effect like a scissor closing and making the blades sharper as well. It really is a marvelous piece of…"

"Yes yes," said Sergei, a hint of annoyance in his voice. "Strike things hard. I understand the concept."

But you still insist on simplifying it, thought Dmitri as he rolled his eyes.

Sergei experimented with the blades and found a pair of hidden triggers under his fingers. Suddenly the grooves on the blade opened up and small sharp hooks came out. Dmitri silently cursed. The Blades alone would cut through nearly anything, but those hooks would get caught in the flesh. A gruesome, yet effective way to catch prey, and truthfully Dmitri had hoped that Kraven would just overlook that particular feature. In the meantime Sergei's grin widened.

"Excellent," he said. "Quite Excellent."

**….**

Peter walked to school with bags under his eyes. This was actually the first time he had made it to school on time in a while. He hadn't seen Harry or Gwen for a few days either, what with his busy schedule. He hoped they weren't mad at him.

But knew they probably were.

He went through the front doors, almost bumping into a few people as he did. He really was tired, and it was showing. He didn't get tired as easily as he used to, but apparently spider stamina wasn't much to be impressed with. Peter realized just how exhausted he was when he took ten steps and he realized he was supposed to go right back there. He muttered to himself about how stupid he was…

And ran straight into Gwen and Harry. Harry was his usual awkward self, and Gwen was angry.

"Peter," she said loudly. "We need talk." Then she took a look at him and softened. "Peter? You look terrible."

Peter was surprised. Was the fatigue really showing on him that much?

"Gee," said Peter jokingly. "That's what I said to the mirror this morning."

Gwen rolled her eyes, and behind her Harry shook his head nervously. Peter got the hint. He really shouldn't be joking at a time like this.

"Peter," she said. "I don't know what to think. I'm furious with you and worried about you at the same time."

"I think they call that ambivalence," said Peter nervously.

"I call it losing my mind." said Gwen, clearly frustrated. "I just…"

She shook her head, tried to say something, but walked off. Peter stood there awkwardly, watching her go. He looked at Harry, who was looking at the floor and drawing circles with his feet. Harry said, "Thanks for the study guides," and walked off as well, leaving Peter feeling worse than ever.

He couldn't believe he had tried to joke his way out of that.

**….**

Peter sat at the computer to his room, finishing his homework. It was late at night, and this time Aunt May really was asleep. Peter worked in the darkness with only desk lamp and the computer shedding any light. His eyes were bloodshot, and he still had bags under his eyes, so it was a great relief when he pushed save on his computer and stopped doing schoolwork.

He sighed.

Between his schoolwork, Aunt may, and his friends, he couldn't help but think that Peter Parker was falling down on the job, and trying to breeze over these problems with clever quips wasn't going to cut it. He was losing it, and starting to think he needed to take things more seriously.

He stared at his computer screen for a moment and then got a thought. If Peter Parker wasn't doing so well, how was Spiderman doing? Flash Thompson had been bragging that his blog was getting a lot of hits lately. Peter thought, what the heck, I'll check it out. He put in the URL.

.com.

It actually wasn't too bad. A nice red and blue aesthetic covered the front page, along with pictures of what you could assume was supposed to be Spiderman. As usual the only people who seemed to know what Spiderman looked like were the ones who had seen him in person. No one had gotten a decent photo or even a video of him yet.

Surprisingly, the blog had over a thousand hits on it.

He couldn't read Flash's latest post. It was the usual type of work. Filled with glowing praise of Spiderman's exploits and blatant misuse of the English language. Peter, instead, turned to the comments section.

While there were a few trolling comments with terrible language and worse grammar, most of the comments were pretty positive. People seemed to think he had been doing a much better job at protecting the city in the past two weeks than he had before.

A few that stuck out to peter were, "Saw him stop a robbery yesterday, I've never seen a person move that fast!" "Fast is right, he stopped three car chases in one day, all on opposite corners of the city! I wish my car was that fast, lol!" "He pulled a lot of people out of that fire yesterday. I didn't know spiders were fireproof. J." "They're not, Spiderman's just awesome!" "I wish he got paid for all his hard work."

"You and me both pal," said Peter.

That did make Peter feel a little better, but it was one comment in particular that really got to Peter, and it had been up-voted more than any other comment.

"Spiderman saved me and my kids from this mugger. I remember telling my kids it would be alright, but feeling helpless all the same. Suddenly this man in red and blue tights drops out of the sky and pulls the mugger's gun away with that web of his. Then he starts dancing around the guy, who tries and fails to punch him. Spiderman starts giving the guy advice on how to hit him, even though it's obviously useless. I remember rolling my eyes, until I realized that my children were laughing. It hit me that they weren't scared anymore, and neither was I. I've read a few comments that Spiderman isn't serious enough, that he takes the issue of people in danger lightly. I disagree. I think his humor is the best thing about him. Spiderman gives us a reason not to be scared when we're going about our business, and I think that's great."

His humor helped that woman? Peter had never thought of that before. Jokes just came naturally to him. He sat back in his chair and stared at the comment, and something about it stirred up a memory in him.

He was very young, though he couldn't remember exactly how young, and his father, Richard Parker, was still alive. Peter had scraped his knee and his dad playfully got a wrench out, and then face-palmed himself. "Silly dad," he said. "A wrench is for a leaky sink, not a leaky knee." It made Peter laugh, and helped him to stop crying.

Now Peter knew what Uncle Ben meant when he said that Peter was like his father, and why his Uncle always told Peter never to lose his sense of humor. It probably reminded Uncle Ben of his brother, but it was good advice all the same. The Parker family had its share of tragedy in the grand scheme of things, but it produced some really great guys, like the men that Peter had the fortune to call father.

Peter closed his eyes and smiled faintly. In that moment he realized just how much he missed both of them, but for one night he wasn't entirely sad. The memories made him feel better than he had in quite a while.


	19. Chapter 19

The Marvelous Spider-Man

Chapter Nineteen

By

Jason Richard

The XK-88 Mark 10 Shuttle wasn't your typical NASA spacecraft. It was sharp, sleek, and smooth; a stylish ship, but it was more than that. It was fast so fast that it became the first manned spacecraft to make it to mars, and it did it within a month.

John Jameson was the captain of this ship, and was ready to take it home.

He was kind of burly, like a football player, yet pleasant. He sat with the other astronauts, all of them in their full space suits, flipping switches to prepare for landing. It would be so normal compared to the rest of this voyage. Most of their time was spent going at speeds that would seem unreasonable, and it had been a little disorienting at first. The landing, by comparison, would be at speeds that could be considered normal for space travel.

After all, it would be dangerous to land this thing too fast.

"Alright everyone," said John. "Let's take her in nice and slow."

Out in the void of space the ship began its dive into earth, aiming for a trajectory in a NASA landing pad at Houston Texas. John took the steering wheel to keep the ship steady. The familiar hum of the engine was soft, indicating a lower, safer level of thrust. So far everything was going well.

Then it happened.

The engines roared to life, and suddenly the ship was gaining momentum. The astronauts looked around frantically. John Jameson almost pulled up, but then the ship shook. They had broken the atmosphere, and trying to pull up from that, considering their speed, would rip them apart.

"What happened?!" John demanded, yelling at the top of his lungs in order to be heard over the sound of the engine.

"It's the engines!" cried one of the astronauts. "The fuel line is leaking excess fuel into the combustion chamber!"

"Are you kidding me?!"

"I wish I was! We always knew the extreme temperature of the engines could cause problems like this."

"Well," said John sarcastically. "It picked a fine time to start. We've got to land this thing."

"We're almost at top speed!"

"If you've got a better idea, I'm all ears!" John cried irritably. "We'll keep her at a sharp angle and let her run out of fuel."

"No telling when that will happen! How do you know we'll have a place to land wherever this thing ends up?"

"Like I said! If you've got a better idea…"

His voice was cut off by the ship breaking the sound barrier.

**….**

A few minutes later, the news reported the incident:

"The XK-88 Mark 10 Shuttle has gone out of control and was now making an orbital landing at impossibly high speeds. The ship is currently set to orbit the atmosphere three times before it can land, and Captain John Jameson has requested permission to use a landing strip at a New York Airport; however at those speeds there is no guarantee that a landing will be physically possible. More on this as it develops."

**….**

Inside the daily bugle each member of the staff watched the news on a television in the corner. Instead of the usual hustle and bustle of the workroom there was complete silence. Jameson himself looked at the footage with a dumbstruck look on his face. Betty Brant looked over at him. She had never seen him go this long without yelling at someone, and for once she felt sorry for him.

She also knew he wasn't going to be moving from that spot for a while

**….**

Peter found out about the shuttle quickly. Since the cops seemed to have little to do now that Spiderman was patrolling the streets the police radio had become less useful, so Peter often checked the news in case there was something going on. As he stood in the living room watching what was happening he felt a little sick.

Pete switched off the television as thoughts raced through his head. Surely there was no way he could get onto that shuttle to save the astronauts. Then the scientific part of his brain figured out how to do it. Surely he couldn't do it in enough time to get back without revealing his identity as Spiderman. No, at the speeds that shuttle was going he would have to do it in that amount of time, otherwise it would be too late. Surely he couldn't save John Jameson, who was sure to be as much of a jerk as his father. Right?

Because that line of thinking had worked out great before, Peter thought bitterly.

He suddenly thought of his uncle, and he remembered several bits of advice that his Uncle had given him through the years.

"Peter, a grudge is never a good thing. It just eats you up inside."

"Peter, a man owns up to his mistakes."

"Peter, we should always do our best to help those in need."

Alright, though Peter, that last one was a little cliché, but true.

He crossed his arms, feeling a chill. He still missed his uncle more than anything, and wished that he were there with him. Even so, he felt relieved that he at least had gotten one last piece of advice from him, even if it was given indirectly.

"With great power, comes great responsibility."

Peter had to go, he just knew it.

He walked over to his Aunt's room and peeked in. She was fast asleep, taking an afternoon nap. She didn't look peaceful, but seemed to have troubled dreams. Peter wished he could comfort her, but he was never as good at that as his Uncle. Peter always made things worse with a poorly timed joke, while his Uncle could make anyone feel safe. Peter figured he should let her be He had thought of a way he could turn things around with their money situation, but it would have to wait. It was the wrong time to tell her.

"I promise," said Peter to Aunt May's sleeping form. "I'm going to make this right. I'll do what I have to do. Whatever it takes…but right now I have something I need to do."

And a few moments later Peter was gone.

**….**

Dmitri frowned as he sat in the armchair and watched Sergei leave the hotel room with the vibranium machetes strapped to his back. Meanwhile Sergei grinned like a hyena as he turned back to Dmitri.

"I'll be going now," said Sergei in Russian. "Don't follow. I'll deal with this myself."

"Are you certain the Spider will go to that shuttle?" asked Dmitri.

"Of course," said Sergei. "Look at how he started catching criminals after his failure at that bank. He will definitely be there. How could he pass up a chance to restore his wounded pride?"

Sergei began to leave.

"Extreme measures to restore wounded pride?" asked Dmitri. "Where have I heard that before."

Sergei looked back again with an angry look, "What was that?" he growled.

Dmitri didn't like that look.

"Nothing brother," he said casually.

Sergei left, and Dmitri thought. Sergei had been getting more and more dangerous the past few weeks, and some of his old abusive sibling tendencies had returned. Dmitri felt his leg, which was still sore, and still caused him to limp. He had thought he could put the past behind him and work with Sergei on this, but truthfully, he was hoping the Spider's newfound enthusiasm for his crime fighting meant that he would try harder to defeat his half-brother. It was high time someone injured the mighty Kraven for a change. He chuckled a little bit. Dmitri realized he was actually rooting for the Spider.

That didn't stop him from carrying out his own plans though.

He pulled out a cell phone and made a call.

"This is Chameleon," he said smoothly. "I'm going to need a few things."


	20. Chapter 20

The Marvelous Spider-Man

Chapter Twenty

By

Jason Richard

Captain Stacy had finished his paperwork, and had taken to flicking paper footballs into the trash bin. He stopped for a moment. This situation with the cops having nothing to do was getting a little ridiculous. The detectives had work with a few domestic crimes. Obviously Spiderman could stop everything, but no one had even written so much as a speeding ticket in the last few days. This city was changing, and again Captain Stacey wondered what his place was in it.

He looked over at the letter of resignation he had written on his desk computer and thought very carefully about sending it.

Retirement could be nice, after all. He'd get to spend more time with his family, and wouldn't be worrying them. That was really the hardest part about the job, making family worry about you. Maybe this situation wasn't so bad.

And yet he still felt like he was falling down on the job.

Tap, tap, tap.

Captain Stacy whipped his head around to see something tapping at the window. Cautiously he pulled his gun out and approached. The tapping continued until Captain Stacy reached for the strings to pull back the blinds. He hesitated, readying himself for anything, and then yanked with all his might.

He found himself pointing his gun at an upside down Spiderman.

Captain Stacy was surprised, but he quickly put his gun away and opened the window. Spiderman moved so he could do that and Captain Stacy poked his head out to speak with him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked the man clinging to the wall of the police headquarters."

"You know that shuttle that's going out of control?" said Spiderman. "It's landing here, and it's going to pass over us. I'm going to see if I can help."

"Okay," said Captain Stacy, a little confused. "Why tell me?"

"Well," said Spiderman. "If any crooks catch wind that I'm on a shuttle making rounds around the earth and not in the city, they might take that as an…opportunity."

It took a second for Captain Stacy to understand, but when he did opened his mouth in shock. Spiderman was about to be gone for a while, leaving the city without the man responsible for putting so many crooks away. That was going to result in a massive crime spike.

For the first time in a long time, Captain Stacy had some serious work to do.

"Alright," said Captain Stacy. "Thanks for the info. I'll guess I'll just tell the rest of the cops a little birdie told me huh?"

"Well," said Spiderman playfully. "A little eight legged birdie."

Then Spiderman swung away. Captain Stacy chuckled and shook his head. He closed the window and went to make preparations for the next couple of hours. They were about to be very busy at the police station. He chuckled again, thinking about that eight legged birdie comment. That Spiderman was really quite a goofball.

It reminded him of someone.

**….**

A few minutes later, after a quick web swing through the city, Spiderman was perched on the pole topping of the building. Even without the help of the coin operated binoculars below him it was an impressive sight, and he tried to imagine it disappearing in an instant as he attached himself to a super-fast shuttle, but he still figured that it would be quite different once he actually did it.

He looked up to the sky, where he planned to catch a ride on the shuttle. He ran through the calculations in his head. There was no way he could just go there and do it. No, he had to calculate the shuttle's flight path and fire his webbing before the shuttle was even in view; at exactly the right time.

He looked at the watch strapped to his wrist. He had three minutes.

He couldn't help but feel a little nervous as he watched the sky. Hitchhiking an out of control shuttle that could revolve the world in a matter of minutes? This was probably the most dangerous thing he had done since he had donned the mask of Spiderman. He couldn't help but wonder if he was going to come back from this at all.

He thought of his Aunt May, weeping at home, and pushed all that negative thinking away. He had to make it. He just had to. He cracked his knuckles and went over his calculations one more time. He looked to his left, where he would be aiming his webbing. I can do this, he thought. I can do this. Besides, how could this get any worse than it already is?

A tingling sensation rippling through his body, indicating someone flying through the air and swinging a heavy object in Spiderman's direction, was the unpleasant answer.

Spiderman just barely ducked under the blade that whistled as it swung through the air. He turned to see to see Kraven's hyena grin. Of all the times to show up, Peter thought.

Suddenly Kraven grabbed Spiderman's ankle and yanked him down. They fell to the lower level and Kraven smashed Spiderman against the ground. Behind the mask Peter was cringing, but he recovered quickly. Before Kraven could plunge his blade into his prey's leg Spiderman webbed Kraven's face, attached his feet to the stone floor, and yanked. Kraven was sent crashing through the metal gate on the side of the building and over the edge.

Got him, thought Peter as he kicked himself into a standing position. He's fast, but he can't stick to walls or shoot webs.

But then Spiderman peered over the edge to see Kraven yanking the webbing off his face, twisting around, pulling out the second blade attached to his back, and plunging both of them into the stone. The blades went in to the stone effortlessly, releasing dust as they carved two long slits in the wall, and then Kraven extended the hooks so they caught, stopping his descent. The next moment Kraven climbed up, extending and retracting the hooks as he needed to. Spiderman leaped higher, attaching to the wall as he saw Kraven make it back up.

That's not good, Peter thought, still feeling the pain from being smashed against the floor.

"Nice to see you again," said Kraven, grinning as he stood on the side of the building and looked up at the red and blue superhero above him.

"Gee," said Spiderman sarcastically, thought secretly he was cursing his bad luck. "A man as ugly as a gorilla missed me. I'm touched."

Peter glanced at his watch. He had two minutes and fifty seconds.

"Ah," said Kraven, his smile slowly disappearing. "I will enjoy the end of this hunt greatly, if it means I can shut that annoying mouth of yours."

"Well," said Spiderman in a haughty voice. "Methinks the gorilla doth protest too much. That's Shakespeare for…quit your whining ugly!"

"Would you SHUT UP!" cried Kraven, leaping up and swinging his whistling blade where Spiderman was a moment ago and cutting straight through the stone. Spiderman crawled and leaped on all fours while Kraven dropped back down to the floor below, running at cheetah speed around the building to keep up with his prey. Spiderman webbed the top of the building and swung around, making a web in front of his enemy, but Kraven, in one motion, flipped and sliced a hole in the white substance before landing and continuing his run.

So, Peter thought, those blades can cut through steel as well as stone, brilliant.

"Nice toys pal," said Spiderman as he swung. "But if the sales guy who got you those guaranteed you a dead spider you might want a refund."

The next moment Kraven screamed in rage, leapt up and swung his blades at Spiderman yet again. Spiderman stopped with a strand of web holding him up and swung his head back, but this time Kraven stuck a blade in the stone and continued swinging, cutting the webbing and making Spiderman lose his balance. Kraven swung again and when Spiderman leaned back he felt Kraven kick him in the stomach, sending him falling to the ground.

When Spiderman landed, he took a moment from being in pain to look at his watch. He had fifty eight seconds. He knew he had to get Kraven off his back, and soon.

Spiderman rolled away immediately as Kraven descended with his blades, slicing the floor as he missed Spiderman again. Peter then made as if to kick himself standing, but leapt backwards over the side of the building, through the gap in the fence that Kraven had crashed through. He turned around, webbed Kraven's shoulders and yanked down, only to find that Kraven had planted his blades in the stone beneath him.

Spiderman felt his descend come to a sudden stop. As Spiderman dangled by the web Kraven took one hand and yanked the superhero back up. Kraven got the webbing off his hand and the next moment Spiderman found himself grabbed by the throat, flipped over Kraven's head, and smashed against the ground. Through the pain he found the will to try and shoot Kraven in the face with webbing from his left hand, but Kraven pinned that hand to the ground, while Spiderman's right hand tried to pry the hand off his throat.

On that hand his watch said thirty seconds.

Kraven pulled up the blade in his hand and brought it down to strike.

The bland ended up an inch from Peter's face. Kraven, stunned, saw a small strand of webbing that he had not seen before glimmer in the light. Behind the mask Peter grinned, for he had modified his web shooters to be able to shoot both kind of webbing simultaneously, so while Kraven had been distracted by the webbing aimed at his face, he had missed the stealth webbing that Peter had placed just above his head.

"Yeah," said Spiderman, getting a surprised look from Kraven. "I hate walking into webs I didn't see too. It's so annoying when it gets in your face."

The next moment Spiderman webbed Kraven's eyes with his right hand, wrenched the the hand off his throat, pulled his legs up, and kicked Kraven over the side of the building. Spiderman kicked his legs to jump stand and looked at his watch. He had fifteen seconds. Meanwhile Kraven slashed his blade into the side of the building and stopped his descent. He then removed webbing stuck to his eyes and climbed using the blade in one hand and his climbing experience with the rest of his limbs, finding foot and hand holds in the windows.

Spiderman leapt to the pole on top of the building and perched there, staring at the sky and waiting. Ten seconds. Kraven made it to the top and climbed inside the fence. Eight seconds. Spiderman picked his aim, calculating again where the shuttle would go by in an instant. Six seconds. Kraven grabbed his other blade from the floor and quickly jumped up, climbing with both his blades. Four seconds. Spiderman fired his webbing, letting a long strand extend from his hand. Two seconds. Kraven gave a mighty leap from the lower wall and swung his blade.

One second.

Something went by Spiderman's vision in a blur across the sky.

He felt tension on his webbing.

He grabbed a tight hold.

Peter heard Kraven's blade sing, but that was the last thing he registered as he saw the world go by in a blur, feeling and hearing the wind rush by at intense levels. He tightened his grip on the webbing and pulled himself forward with it, climbing to the ship that he could now see clearly. If fact it was the only thing he could see clearly. Finally, Peter thought. I've made it. I'll save John Jameson, and then see about pummeling that Kraven jerk.

Kraven Meanwhile, landed back on the floor and punched the wall in a rage, leaving a fist shaped crater in the stone. He then looked around. In the distance, with his keen eyesight, he saw a construction sight. Perfect, they would have chains there, and that would be all he would need to get aboard that shuttle.

And finish his hunt once and for all.

Tony Stark's Ego

A bonus Iron Man cameo that totally has nothing to do

With an awesome movie I saw last night.

By

Jason Richard.

Tony Stark, a dark haired, middle aged man with an expression that was usually either smug or flustered and sometimes both paced through his office, quite agitated. He was surrounded by Iron Man suits that were battle damaged and in need of work, as well as holograms that indicated just how much work his suits needed, but he wasn't paying attention to them. He was on the phone with someone who wasn't listening to him.

"No," said Tony firmly. "No. I told you the XK-88 Mark 10 Shuttle wasn't ready for a real expedition. I said that didn't I? Jarvis, didn't I say that?"

"Yes sir," said the computer. "Fifty seven times spoken, and once with graffiti at NASA headquarters."

Tony nodded. "Okay," he said. "The red paint was a little immature, I admit, but I'm telling you the shuttle wasn't ready, and not just because we hadn't sorted out all the kinks. The engine temperature was one thing, but we've got nothing fast enough to catch up with it. I told you boys at NASA the shuttle was just a prototype, and I warned you that if something bad happened, which it has, there would be nothing I could do about it."

He listened for a moment.

"Gee," he said. "I had completely forgotten that I designed it. Completely. Absolutely. Now I know how Shakespeare felt when he forgot about writing Hamlet. You know something else...Ah!" He shut off the phone and threw it away in anger.

As it clattered to the ground he got control of himself.

"Actually sir," said Jarvis. "It appears that someone has gotten onto the shuttle."

"What?" asked Tony. A hologram appeared showing a picture of someone too blurry to make out climbing to the shuttle on a thin white strand.

"Who's that?" asked Tony.

"Well sir," said Jarvis. "Flight plan brings it over New York, so the most likely candidate at this point is Spiderman."

"The rookie Superhero?" asked Tony. "He got onto that ship…after I just said it couldn't be done?"

The implications of what he just said hit him right here, and he just stared forward, completely stunned."

"A bit of a blow to your ego sir?" asked Jarvis.

"A blow?" asked Tony. "My…My ego's reeling! I…It's getting pummeled! It's begging for mercy here! I might have no ego left when this is over!"

"Well sir," said Jarvis. "I'm sure Miss Potts and Mr. Roads will be ever so pleased.

"Yeah," said Tony. "They won't let me forget this any time soon, that's for sure." He looked at the figure climbing to the shuttle and his expression softened. "Well, good luck kid. You're gonna need it."


	21. Chapter 21

The Marvelous Spider-Man

Chapter Twenty One

By

Jason Richard

Little by little Spiderman pulled forward, and behind the mask Peter couldn't help but think. It was like climbing the rope in gym class, only he was horizontal instead of vertical, the wind was blowing in his face like the worst storm he had ever known, and he was traveling at…what speed was it anyway? All he knew was that his spider powers didn't protect him from the disorientation of the ground going by in a blur. He realized now just how fast this thing was. Still, at least he had the strength to hold on. A fall from this thing would be disastrous.

Eventually he made it to the shuttle itself. As he crawled onto the side of the craft he remembered a spider he had once seen hanging on for dear life to his uncle's car while they were going down the interstate. At that moment he understood how that spider must have felt.

Spiderman made it a door and began to open the latch. Once it came loose the door snapped open. Peter crawled inside and using a combination of his sticky fingertips and his Spider strength he pulled the door closed behind him.

It clicked as it shut and Spiderman sat down, resting in the sleek white corridor. He took a few breaths to recover his bearing before looking for John Jameson. Then he breathed a sigh of relief, convinced that the worst part of this was behind him.

**….**

Kraven found a suitable chain at the noisy construction site. It was just sitting in a pile underneath some large concrete pipes, and Kraven estimated that it would be over twenty feet long when it was unfurled.

Perfect, he grinned as he picked up the chain and draped it over his shoulders. Then he began walking away. Before he left entirely, however, he saw some sort of greasy pumping machine. He walked over to it and put his hand in, taking black grease onto his fingers. He then proceeded to cover his face, arms, and chest with it, giving himself tiger stripes.

A little bit of war paint, he thought, grinning. He then walked away with the chain over his shoulders.

He took a look at a rear view mirror from a power shovel to get a look at his tiger stripes. He looked good. Nice and intimidating.

"Hey!" cried a large, burly worker in a sweaty t-shirt and hard hat. "What do you think you're doing with that…"

He would have said 'chain,' but Kraven, without even looking, snapped the guy's neck and didn't even stop walking. A moment later he was running back to the Empire State Building at full speed. He knew the other workers had seen him, and he could hear them scrambling to the scene, but he didn't care at that moment. The shuttle would return soon, and he needed to be on it. What did he care about those men?

He had bigger game in store.

**….**

Spiderman made his way to the cockpit where Jameson and the other astronauts were bound to be. He crawled on the walls so he wouldn't be knocked over by the ship's sudden lurches. No doubt the astronauts were constantly adjusting their course for the safest possible landing. That, and the engine was obviously unstable. The engine roared, and the entire ship vibrated, so much so that it made his whole body tingle. He couldn't find his way using his Spider sense. It was like that power was blinded by all the vibrations the shuttle was giving off. Still, all he had to do was make his way forward. Silently he was thankful that Kraven hadn't followed him onto the ship.

With his Spider Sense blinded, this would have been a terrible place to fight him anyway.

**….**

Back on top of the empire state building Kraven waited, scanning the bright blue sky. Of course he realized that even he wouldn't see it coming, as fast as it was. He would have to listen for it, and aim accordingly. He had the chain tied to one of his vibranium machete's and tested it. When he pulled on the chain the hooks extended, due to the knot he had tied. Good. It would have to catch if he were to get onto that shuttle.

Of course he knew it would be some time before the shuttle would reappear. Even going as fast as it was he would have to wait. He looked down at the city and even considered killing time by going on a short hunt then and there. A few ordinary people would be a decent warm up for the main event. He decided against it however, and continued watching the sky and listening for the shuttle to rush past.

Not long now, he thought.

**….**

John Jameson was going over the data in his head, trying to think over the shaking and the rushing of the shuttle around him. The situation wasn't looking good. The closer they got to running out of fuel, the more he realized he wasn't going to be able to land with just the shuttle's remaining momentum. They would crash.

"Men," he said loudly, yet the pain in his voice was obvious. "We're not going to be able to land this thing properly. The best we can do is make sure it doesn't impact in a populated area. Any objections?"

They all looked at him seriously, but no one objected. Instead they nodded solemnly.

"Right," said John. "It's been an honor serving with all of..."

Suddenly the back door was knocked open, and a guy in a red and blue skin tight suit backflipped in, raised his arms and said, "Ta-Da! Your out of control space shuttle ejector seat has arrived! Who wants off this plane?"

The astronauts just looked at him like someone had gone insane.

"Who the heck are you?" asked John.

"What?" said Spiderman in mock surprise. "You mean you haven't heard of me in the far reaches of space? I'm only famous on earth? Shoot!" he punched the air in mock frustration. "I was so sure Thor would want my autograph."

John stared blankly. "You know, you did just interrupt a big, 'we've accepted our fate' moment."

"Did I?" Spiderman shrugged. "Oops. My bad."


	22. Chapter 22

The Marvelous Spider-Man

Chapter Twenty Two

By

Jason Richard

Kraven stopped pacing back and forth across the floor. At the top of the empire state building he looked towards the horizon. He couldn't see it, but he could hear it, whooshing towards him at incredible speeds. Kraven grinned and began to spin the machete at the end of a chain. Faster and faster he swung it, until it was almost as fast as a helicopter blade. The shuttle was closer to the ground than it had been before, but Kraven would still have to throw his blade high to reach it.

He closed his eyes. The shuttle would be too fast to see anyway. Instead he listened, remembering that time he hit a falcon flying at full speed with just a throwing knife…with his eyes closed. This would be ten times more difficult, but what challenge could be better for a great hunter like himself?

He waited for the right moment, and when the shuttle was just close enough he threw the machete up. After a moment of flying into the sky gravity caught it, and then something else.

Kraven Tightened his grip on the chain.

The next moment he was being dragged along at incredible speeds. Kraven opened his eyes to see the shuttle in front of him and the world going by beneath him faster than he would have thought possible.

He grinned his hyena grin, and made a deep rumbling sound in his throat that sounded like a lion purring. He then climbed forward on the chain, towards the shuttle and the blade that was stuck in the hull.

**….**

"Alright Spiderboy," said John, still piloting the ship. "What's your plan for getting off this ship?"

"That's Spider-MAN chief," said Spiderman. "And here's my idea. We're going to pass by the empire state building two more times, and the second time we'll be going a little slower. You will have run out of fuel by then right? In fact we've alright begun that process, and are slowing little by little."

"Very good," said John, nodding. "You've obviously done your homework."

"Alright then," Spiderman went on. "In these little devices on my wrists is a fluid that can turn into a rope that is about as strong as steel cable. I call it my steel webbing, to go with the spider motif. We jettison right as we're coming up on the empire state building and I can web together the escape pods and then attach myself to them and a line to the top of the building."

"I get it," said John, understanding. "At those speeds even a steel cable might break, but the circular motion of us winding around the building will redirect the momentum and put less stress on the strand, and again we just let ourselves slow to a stop."

"Exactly," said Spiderman. "And my spider strength does the rest, keeping you from falling."

"Hey," said one of the other astronauts. "Is spider strength really that great? I mean we're not dealing with insect levels of strength here."

"Well," said Spiderman. "You know how an ant can lift four hundred times its own body weight? If you had, say, a human with the proportionate strength of an ant weighing one hundred and twenty pounds, he could probably lift a maximum of forty eight thousand pounds. While I'm not nearly that strong there is a similar principle at work. Trust me, the proportionate strength of a spider will be enough. I can do this."

"Alright," said Jameson. "That's good enough. Once we get to the empire state building on our third trip we can let the remaining momentum take care of the ship. It should crash outside any populated areas by then. And if you do turn out to be some sort of phony in a cheap costume, then we're no worse off than we were before."

Spiderman crossed his arms. "Hey man, show the costume some respect would you?"

Suddenly there was a beeping noise.

"Whoa," said Spiderman, putting his hands up. "I didn't touch anything, I promise."

"No," said one of the astronauts. "We've got a breach in the hull. Look here."

On a screen in front of him Kraven could be seen cutting a square shaped hole in the side of the ship. He entered the corridor, sticking his blades into the side to brace himself against the wind that rushed into the breach, and made his way forward. Suddenly a door whooshed closed, but a moment later the blade could be seen cutting through it again.

"Well," said John. "The ship is closing of that section automatically to keep air pressure, but that won't stop this guy for long. He's not a friend of yours is he?"

John looked at Spiderman, who had wandered over to the wall. At that moment Spiderman began banging his head against the white hull of the ship.

"Should I take that as a no?" asked John.

Spiderman stopped. "He's after me," he said. "He's a psychopath with mutant powers like mine who hunts people for sport. I didn't think he'd be able to get on this ship."

"Well he did," said John. "So what now?"

Spiderman began walking out of the room and said, "I'll deal with him."

"Wait!" said an astronaut. "What if you can't deal with him?"

"Well," said Spiderman, taking a lighter tone. "You'll be no worse off than you were before I got here, but hey, at least you can finish that moment I interrupted."

"You think this is funny?"

"You angry?" asked Spiderman.

"You bet I'm angry!"

"Good," Spiderman looked at the astronaut. "That's better than being afraid. Now, we've all got jobs to do right now. Keep this ship on the right course, and then head to the escape pods. I saw them on the way here, so I'll meet you there. Don't worry. I'll do everything in my power to get us out of this."

With that Spiderman sprinted down the corridor, and the astronauts watched. They were astonished, and didn't quite know what to make of this stranger.

Except for one of them.

"He's right," said John.

"You trust this guy?" asked another astronaut. "We don't know anything about him."

John chuckled as he took the controls and said, "You sound like my father. Don't worry, I think he's on the level. I can't explain it, but I have a hunch he's sincere. Now, we need to keep this ship on course. Let's get to work!"

**….**

Dmitri the Chameleon sat at a small café near the empire state building. He had a mask of a generic dark haired Caucasian male on. His favorite for normal, everyday things. It was neither too handsome, nor too ugly. Perfect for blending into a crowd.

At this café someone had a small television set that showed the news. Naturally the antics of Spiderman and Kraven were on every channel. A group of people had crowded around the television, and where whispering to each other about it. At the moment the news was showing footage that someone managed to get of Krave in his war paint, waiting on the empire state building for the shuttle to fly by.

"Wow, Kraven the hunter on that ship? I hope he doesn't go after the astronauts."

"With Spiderman on board? The astronauts would bore him."

"Gotta admit, Kraven looks scary in that war paint."

"I'll say. I heard Kraven once killed a rhino with his bare hands. I don't know if  
Spiderman can beat him."

"I think he will," said Dmitri. Everyone turned to look at him, and Dmitri smiled, highly amused. "It's funny that Kraven should mimic a tiger. It reminds me of a story."

"What's this got to do with Spiderman?" asked one of the TV watchers, a nerdy guy with glasses and a t-shirt that said "Spiderman is awesome."

"Listen and find out," said Dmitri, smiling. "The characters in this story are ironically similar to Spiderman and Kraven." Everyone listened silently. Confident that he had their attention, Dmitri told his story.

"Kraven the hunter used to do most of his hunting in Africa…so I'm told anyway. This story is actually African in origin as well, by coincidence. Kraven reminded me of it because it is partially about tiger. In olden days tiger was the mightiest beast in the jungle, and all animals revered his power and strength, except for one. One animal, called Anansi, decided to, shall we say, bring tiger down a notch.

"He came to tiger and made a request. You see all things in the forest were named after the ferocious tiger, and Anansi asked that something be named after him instead. He specifically asked for the 'tiger stories,' told by the storyteller, to become 'Anansi stories.' Tiger agreed, but only if Anansi could capture the snake, which Tiger was convinced was impossible for little Anansi. Snake may not have been as ferocious as Tiger, but Anansi still shook in fear at the mention of Snake's name. Even so, he agreed, much to the amusement of nearby animals.

"Anansi tried several times, setting traps to capture the reptile, but each trap he set failed. Eventually Snake asked Anansi what he wanted, and Anansi saw an opportunity. He told snake that he made a bet with the animals of the forest that snake was longer than a bamboo tree, for they had been mocking Snake behind his back, saying how short he was. Snake, taking that as a blow to his pride, insisted that he was the longest creature there was. To settle the matter a bamboo tree was cut down and Snake lay down next to it, but the tree was longer.

"It was then that Anansi suggested that if Snake stretched out he could be longer, so Snake had Anansi tie his tail to the end of the tree while he stretched out, and when he had managed to become as long as the tree Anansi quickly tied snake's head to the end of the bamboo. Anansi presented the captured snake to an astonished Tiger, and from that day on all stories told in the jungle were 'Anansi Stories.'

"So you see, if I'm betting on Spiderman winning, I'm betting that brains will defeat brute strength. Trust me. Spiderman has more going for him than you might think."

With that Dmitri stood and began to walk off. The crowd watched him with intense curiosity. Most of them seemed pensive and thoughtful.

"Wait!" said the guy with glasses, with a knowing look. "Just what kind of animal was Anansi anyway?"

Dmitri paused for a moment and looked back. "I think you know. That's why this situation is so ironic. For Anansi…of course…was a spider."

With that Dmitri walked off, leaving a group of people who were a little confused, and a little intrigued by this stranger. Dmitri, meanwhile, meant every word he said. He was, in fact, rooting for the Spider to win this.

With the Tiger out of the way, the Chameleon would, of course, Claim the Spider for his own.

**….**

Kraven, still wearing the engine grease as black tiger strip war paint, stalked through the corridors of the ship, walking on all fours. He had his blades strapped to his back as he followed Spiderman's scent. Spiderman had gone in a single direction the entire time, unlike before in the high school, so he was significantly easier to track this time around. Those annoying doors closing in front of him as he made his way through the corridor didn't help, but at least one had closed behind him. Now he didn't' have to deal with the wind escaping that hole he made in the side of the ship, and no more doors had opened since then. Kraven now could track the Spider in peace, and he figured it wouldn't take long to find him.

It didn't.

He looked up. Spiderman stood there, facing him with fists at his sides. Kraven grinned his hyena grin and stood. So, the Spider had come to face him head on. Kraven cracked his knuckles. They stood facing each other at opposite sides of the corridor, and Kraven knew it was now or never.

This hunt was going to end once and for all.


	23. Chapter 23

The Marvelous Spider-Man

Chapter Twenty Three

By

Jason Richard

The shuttle was slowing, but it was still racing through the sky at unimaginable speeds. In the white corridor Peter, his masked face staring down Kraven, knew he had to end this quickly. They would be running out of fuel soon, and the ship would crash. He had to defeat Kraven quickly.

Why then, did he find it so hard to move? Kraven's grinning and that noise that sounded like purring didn't help.

Calm down, Peter told himself, you can do this. He's just another bully to outsmart. At that thought Peter remembered how he had outsmarted bullies in the past, protecting himself and Harry. Of course Flash Thompson was the one who came up the most. Peter remembered when he had first seen Flash picking on Harry. As frightened as Peter was, he managed to make Flash less scary. Peter walked right up to him and said, "Gee Flash, I know you got beat up in the last football game, but do you have to take it out on Harry?"

His first quip.

Peter then focused on the enemy before him, and suddenly found a way to make him less intimidating. He saw the tiger stripe war paint.

"Aw!" said Spiderman as if he was looking at something cute. "Look at the kitty makeup! It makes you look so pretty!"

Kraven, however, reacted with just a small twitch of his eye. Otherwise he seemed unfazed by the comment. He grinned his hyena grin and that sound like purring turned to a distinctive growl. He started walking, slowly picking up speed until he was running.

Well, thought Peter, this is it.

Spiderman just stood there for a moment, and then shot some webbing. Predictably Kraven dodged and sliced his way through it, his blade singing through the air. Despite his shaking Spiderman ran forward. They met and Spiderman jumped as if you leap over him, but Kraven swung right at him, the blade singing through the air and ready to slice Spiderman across the chest.

Until Spiderman stepped off an invisible web he had placed a moment ago, allowing him to change direction midair.

In that moment Spiderman twisted and landed on Kraven's back with a line of webbing around Kraven's neck. Kraven screamed angrily and thrashed wildly, trying to shake him off.

Peter suddenly felt even better than before.

"Yee haw!" cried Spiderman. "Ride that bucking bronco! YEE HAW!"

Kraven tried to smash Spiderman against the wall with his back, but Spiderman put his foot behind him and kicked forward.

"Oh a wise guy eh?" said Spiderman. "Trying to use my own tricks against me, eh?"

Kraven swung his blades behind him, and Spiderman dodging, all the while managing to stay on Kraven's back.

"Missed me!" said Spiderman. "Missed me! Missed me! Missed me!"

Suddenly the blades cut the webs, and Spiderman was forced to backflip away before Kraven cut him. Kraven turned around and ran towards him as Spiderman landed. With Kraven, wild eyed and brandishing his machetes, running straight towards him, Peter realized that this was usually the moment he would start running away.

Not this time thought. This time he was going to beat this creep.

He waited for Kraven to swing once, back flipped, and then threw a punch just as Kraven swung his blade.

Kraven's arm caught on the stealth webbing and his blade stopped. Spiderman's fist, however, connected with Kraven's face, much to the hunter's surprise.

Got you, thought Peter.  
And that's how Spiderman fought. He'd dodge a few blows, only for Kraven's arm to suddenly catch on stealth webbing. Kraven could rip the web off when he knew it was there, but it kept catching at odd angles when he least expected it, and every time his arm caught it left an opening for Spiderman to hit him in the face.

Kraven began to get annoyed.

Spiderman Dodged, twisted, and flipped away from the singing blades. Then Kraven's arm would catch, and POW! Kraven was hit. Behind the mask Peter was getting a rush. I can do this, he thought. I can do this!

Suddenly as his arm caught once again, Kraven ducked the inevitable punch and kicked Spiderman in the stomach and sent him flying. As Spiderman felt pain from landing on the cold floor he saw Kraven prepare for a leap. Immediately Peter shot a visible line of web to the ceiling and pulled with all his might.

His feet connected with Kraven midair, smashing the hunter into the ceiling. Peter twisted to land on all fours while Kraven fell down face first, his blades clattering away. Peter webbed the blades and threw them away, and then webbed Kraven. With all his might he swung Kraven against the wall. Kraven grunted in pain, and Spiderman swung again.

Again and again he swung Kraven on his web line against the floor, the ceiling, and the walls, yanking with everything he had and grunting each time. He was going to make certain this guy was knocked unconscious before he stopped.

Suddenly the ship lurched. Spiderman stumbled, and suddenly the lights went out. He yanked on the line once again, not taking any chances, but it was lighter than before. He pulled the object at the end of the line to him and caught it. Suddenly some of the light came back, though it was not as bright as before, and Spiderman saw what the object in his hands was.

It was Kraven's lion skin vest.

As Spiderman looked around, Kraven was nowhere to be seen. Not good, Peter thought. Not good at all.

**….**

"What happened?" asked John Jameson in the cockpit.

"The ship sir," said one of the other astronauts. "It was designed for space travel. It was never intended to go this fast while in earth's atmosphere. It can't take the stress sir. It's falling apart. Frankly I'm surprise it's lasted this long. The main power is fractured, and auxiliary power won't last long either."

"Great," said John. "More bad news. Anything else I should know?"

"Don't be surprised if this ship starts losing pieces."


	24. Chapter 24

The Marvelous Spider-Man

Chapter Twenty Four

By

Jason Richard

The ship was dark and Kraven was nowhere to be seen. Spiderman looked around frantically, trying to pinpoint him. Normally he would use his Spider Sense to track Kraven's movements, but with all the vibrations the ship was giving off that particular power was blinded. That meant that Kraven could stalk Spiderman in the darkness without being detected.

Peter knew he was trouble.

Think Spidey, thought Peter, think! What's my next move? The ship is losing power fast, so I might need to get to the escape pods faster than before. I would try tinkering with the systems to get the power back on if it weren't for the extreme temperatures I read about when this ship was first announced. That and I couldn't stop to fix something with a psychopath hunting me down. Worse still with my senses blinded Kraven has the advantage. He has his sense of smell, so…smell. Peter suddenly realized that he had smelled something during their fight. That war paint smell somehow reminded him of those times he'd help Uncle Ben change the oil in the car. Oil. Was he covered in…

Engine grease?

Behind the mask Peter grinned. Kraven was tough, but he had done something really stupid. He'd gone and covered himself, probably on a whim for the intimidation factor, with a flammable substance, only to board a ship with impossible high engine temperatures.

The chances of catching fire were quite high. Peter grinned. Now he had a plan. Get closer to the engine and find an opportunity to set Kraven's war paint on fire.

He ran as fast as he could, keeping an eye open.

However, Kraven was a master hunter, and as he stalked Spiderman on all fours, he made extra careful not to be seen. Naturally, Spiderman wouldn't, and as far as Kraven was concerned, be able to spot him until it was too late.

Spiderman ran as fast as he could, spreading webbing behind him. He had a general idea of where the engine room was so he made haste. Quickly he heard the web snap behind him. Kraven was slashing his way through all right, even though he was still unseen. Peter hoped the webs would at least slow him down.

Suddenly the ship lurched again. He was ready for it though, and planted his feet squarely to avoid being knocked over. That didn't prepare for a section of the ship to suddenly fall away. Namely the floor in front of him. This time Spiderman struggled not to fall forward as wind rushed out the hole. Quickly he looked back…

To see a shirtless, striped, and muscular Kraven leaping for him.

Spiderman leapt to the roof and climbed over the gaping hole beneath him, struggling to stay there with the rushing wind pulling him down. Kraven landed and immediately leapt up, sticking his blades in the roof. He then used them to climb forward, swinging as if on monkey bars, pulling the blades in and out of steel hull even with air current pulling down. Spiderman landed safely on the other side and ran. Kraven landed and screamed at the top of this lungs.

"I grow tired of this Spider!" he shouted, running forward. "Will you fight me or not?!"

"Once it's a fair fight maybe!" cried Spiderman, gaining speed by web swinging forward.

"And if I promise to give you one?" asked Kraven, sheathing his blades and running on all fours.

"I'd say liar liar pants on fire!" said Spiderman.

"Then I'll hunt you down anyway!" cried Kraven.

"I know," sighed Spiderman. "I know."

And when things started getting hotter, Spiderman knew he was nearing the engine room.

As Peter passed by another breach in the hull, crawling on the wall to keep from being sucked out, he considered trying to knock Kraven off the ship through one of those holes. However, he realized that Kraven could just as easily pull both of them through if he got his hands on Peter, and given Kraven's skill at close combat that was likely to happen. Peter couldn't afford to be pulled off the ship by this point, so he just avoided any breaches he saw and made it to the engine room.

"Whoa!" Spiderman said suddenly, backing away from an intense wall of heat. In front of him was an enormous machine that looked like a giant car engine that had become red hot. It was also releasing jets of fire out of fuel pipes that ran into the ceiling and the floor.

Perfect, thought Peter, this is just what I need to set Kraven on fire.

Suddenly he heard the strangely feline growl and looked back. Kraven was practically invisible in that darkness. He hadn't attacked, but Peter knew why. There was nowhere for Spiderman to run; just the corridor Peter was standing in, and the wall of heat behind him. There was still darkness in front of him, and Kraven would no doubt attack from the shadows. Peter had to think of a plan, and quick.

Which he did. He placed some webs up in front of him, and waited.

Spiderman watched the darkness best as he could, but his spider sense was still blind, and it was only getting worse now that the ship was falling apart. As it was, Kraven had the upper hand. He was almost completely undetectable right now.

Peter could hear Kraven growling, just like a tiger, somewhere out there, hunting, stalking him. Peter wondered if he was actually making those noises because they were natural for him, or if he was just trying to scare Peter. After a few moments of silence, Peter was getting a little intimidated.

"Here kitty kitty kitty," said Spiderman.

"Here spider spider spider," said Kraven in a deep voice. Peter's eyes widened.

Kraven was behind him.

In a split second Peter cursed himself for his stupidity. Of course there were other ways of getting into the room. In the same moment Spiderman turned and leapt backwards. Kraven had already begun to swing his machete thought, and it caught Spiderman across the chest. Spiderman fell on his back with a cry, reeling in pain. The wound wasn't deep, but it hurt like nothing Peter had ever felt before. He didn't have time to recover before Kraven was bearing down upon him.

As Kraven's blade landed Spiderman rolled away and quickly crawled to the roof. He then jumped down and dashed for the engine. The flames were his only chance of dealing with Kraven. He got close to the engine, and put his hands up. If he thought the cut was painful, it was nothing compared to the heat in that room. His eyes were stinging, and he had to keep his eyes closed. Well, Peter thought, at least Kraven won't be able to see either.

He opened his eyes just a little to see Kraven sauntering into the room like it was nothing, his hyena grin on full display. Of course, Peter thought. He had already come through that room to get behind him.

"Well well," said Kraven. "I thank my father for all that torture training he made me endure. A lesser man would be struggling in pain with this heat. Speaking of a lesser man struggling in pain..."

Spiderman, cringing from the heat, was unable to avoid the kick that Kraven aimed at him. Spiderman was sent flying against the nearby wall. He was dizzy and in pain, but he managed to stand. He noticed Kraven was taking his time walking over.

Spiderman shot some webbing, but Kraven casually sidestepped it and cut it up. Peter couldn't help but noticed that the stealth webbing he tried to lay reacted to the heat and contracted so much that it broke into pieces straight away. The steel webbing, on the other hand, just sort of melted.

Webbing was useless there.

Suddenly Peter realized something was off. Why hadn't Kraven's grease caught fire yet? Surely it was hot enough in this room for that to happen. Then again, if it were really that hot their skin might be melting away. It also depended on what variety of oil was in the grease. Oil made at Stark Industries might catch fire at higher temperatures than something from Oscorp. Peter figured he needed more heat to ignite whatever this oil was.

Spiderman would have to touch Kraven to the engine to set him on fire, or catch him at one of the leaking fuel lines. Then Peter saw another fuel pipe open up a breach, and he noticed that the section glowed brighter than the rest of the pipe right before the breach happened. Peter knew he could never force Kraven near the engine, and Kraven would be wary of going near an open breach, but if Spiderman could maneuver him near a breach right before it opened, that might catch him.

Now if only his head would stop spinning.

"Have you finally given up?" said Kraven. "Or do you intend to drag this hunt out any longer."

Spiderman spotted a fissure opening in one of the pipes.

"No," said Spiderman. "It's time to end this."

Spiderman moved to his right, as if to run on all fours in that direction, but as Kraven swung his blade Spiderman used his hands to leap over him, right next to the breach. Kraven ran straight at Spiderman and swung again. Spiderman shot some steel webbing, which melted and hit Kraven in the fact.

Spiderman dodged and the fissure opened, but the pain made him fall to the ground. If Kraven ever had a chance to take him down it was now. He looked up, hoping he wouldn't see a blade piercing his flesh...

And he saw Kraven caught up in flames, the grease on his skin ignited. He flailed his arms in vain trying to shake off the fire, and then ran out of the room.

He didn't' scream.

A few moments later Spiderman had crawled out of the room and away from the heat. He could see Kraven running, a flaming blur in the distance. He raised his voice and shouted.

"Tiger tiger stripes on Fire!"

He then rested for a moment, and then stood. Fortunately the heat had tried out the blood on his chest wound, so he wasn't bleeding anymore. With that he walked off. Hopefully Kraven was done for, and Spiderman could save the astronauts as planned.

That didn't turn out as well as I had hoped, thought Peter, but I can still do this.

After a few minutes of being away from the heat, Spiderman had recovered enough to run. He had to make up for lost time. The ship would be nearing its destination soon.

**….**

Kraven ran through the corridors, looking for something to extinguish the flames. The pain was annoying, especially since he knew he would have to get rid of the fire before he could continue the hunt. He found a breach in the hull, an open wall with a view of the sky. He then jumped straight out…

And caught his machete's on the outer hull of the shuttle, cutting lines in the hull before the hooks stopped his motion.

The wind rushing in his face made the flames stronger for a few moments, but they were eventually smothered, leaving tiger strip shaped burns in his skin. Kraven then climbed back in, struggling against the wind…though he noted that it wasn't as severe as when he first boarded the ship. He made it back into the hole, sticking his blades to the inside to climb insode. Once he was in, however, he pulled his blades out, sheathed them, and walked on, stretching himself and cracking his joints as if he had simply finished a morning jog.

As he walked he examined the damage. The burning war paint had left burns in the shape of tiger stripes. It would take a while to heal fully, and by that time he would have a great deal more scars than he did when the hunt began.

"Perfect," Kraven purred. After all, this was better than any ware paint he could possible use. For a few moments he admired the burns shaped like tiger stripes, and then then he picked up speed, ready to capture the real trophy.

This hunt had finally gotten enjoyable.


	25. Chapter 25

The Marvelous Spider-Man

Chapter Twenty Five

By

Jason Richard

"Okay!" shouted John Jameson over the roaring of the engines. "That's it. We can't adjust our course anymore. Autopilot will have to do the rest. Let's go!"

The astronauts scrambled to finish adjusting the settings, as best they could in the limited light, and then left the cockpit. As they scrambled towards the nearby escape pods, one of them asked, "You sure this Spiderman will show up?"

John stood in front of a door which whooshed open to show a long room with escape pod doors on each of the walls. The other thing they noticed was Spiderman standing in the center of the room, his suit charred from the heat and his chest wound showing. Meanwhile Spiderman had his hands on his hips as if nothing had happened.

"Hi guys?" said Spiderman. "What took you so long?"

John frowned. "You look terrible."

"Oh well," said Spiderman. "You should see the other guy."

"How'd that go by the way?" asked John.

"Fine," said Spiderman. "He was tough but not too bright. He actually covered himself in a flammable substance just for some war paint. Stupid right?"

Suddenly Spiderman was knocked against the wall, revealing a shirtless Kraven covered in tiger stripe scars. When Spiderman tried to get up he found Kraven grabbing him by the neck and holding him against the wall. John and the astronauts back away nervously.

"Yes," said Kraven, grinning. "That would have been stupid, if I had been worried about pain in the first place."

Spiderman struggled to remove Kraven's hand, but wasn't having much luck.

"Maybe," Spiderman chocked. "But those will leave some nasty scars."

"Ah!" said Kraven gleefully. "But what are scars but another form of trophy?"

"Great," said Spiderman, still struggling. "Now I can be proud of all those cat scratches."

Somehow Spiderman managed to kick Kraven away. Spiderman leapt to the door on the opposite side of the room as Kraven unsheathed his machetes and ran forward.

"Stop!" cried Spiderman, putting his hand out while his three other limbs clung to the door.

"What?" asked Kraven, amused, though he did stop.

"We've got to get off this shuttle!" cried Spiderman. "It's going to crash. Soon!"

"How exciting!" said Kraven gleefully. "Let's see if I can finish this hunt before then!"

Great, thought Peter, a psychopath.

Peter had to think quickly. He could see the astronauts, and all of them were terrified. Even John Jameson, though he was doing his best to hide it. Peter knew that he couldn't afford to fight here. He risked damaging the escape pods if Kraven got slash happy with those blades. He had to make Kraven drop those.

He had an idea.

"Kraven," said Spiderman, sticking to the wall with his feet and one had behind him while the third kept it between Kraven and himself. "You said earlier that you'd give me a fair fight. Well, how about I take you up on that?"

Kraven kept grinning his hyena grin, but his eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What do you mean?"

The ship shook, and even though Spiderman's senses were dulled by the shuttle's vibrations he could feel a few parts of the ship fall off. He could also see the astronauts, still shaking. Peter knew he had to make this brief.

"How about we ditch the weapons?" said Spiderman. "No web shooters, no machete's, just you and me, fist to fist."

With that Spiderman stepped off the wall and pulled his red gloves off, removing his web shooters and then putting the gloves back off. With that he held the devices off to the side and waited.

"Well?" he asked Kraven.

Kraven's grin widened. Kraven sheathed his machetes, pulled them off, and tossed them away. Peter also threw his web shooters away. He had already done all he could with them for this fight. He only had once chance to pull his plan off now.

"Finally," said Kraven, grinning. "This is how I prefer it anyway." He cracked his knuckles. "But now I can end this hunt spider. Now, I have you!"

Kraven aimed a punch directly at Spiderman.

Spiderman waited, it would have to be at the last second or it wouldn't work.

Kraven swung with all his might.

Spiderman leapt over him, barely missing the blow.

Kraven's eyes followed Spiderman for a moment before resting on the area his fist was about to strike.

The area behind Spiderman had already been covered in steel webbing.

Kraven's fist stuck in the substance and Spiderman landed. Kraven tried to turn around to strike him, but found his reach cut off by his hand being stuck. The next thing he knew Spiderman had jumped in the air and kicked him with both legs. Kraven found his side stuck to the door, and try as he might he could not pull himself free.

"Alright!" cried Spiderman. "Get to the escape pods now!"

As Astronauts scrambled to get into their pods, Spiderman grabbed his web shooters and climbed to the ceiling to put them on so he wouldn't be in their way. All the while, Kraven began to struggle and scream like a madman.

"SPIDER!" He cried. "SPIDER! YOU TRICKED ME!"

"And now," said Spiderman. "I defeat my first supervillian. The infamous doctor obvious! Glad I decided to add that silent option to the steel webbing after all. It came in quite handy."

"I WON'T FORGET THIS SPIDER!" cried Kraven. "IF YOU THOUGHT I WAS HUNTING YOU BEFORE, YOU WILL THINK THAT NOTHING COMPARED TO NOW. I WILL HUNT YOU TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH SPIDER! I WILL! I WILL!"

"I already thought it was nothing," said Spiderman. "And as for you hunting me, well…that won't happen. I guess I should have called you 'captain' obvious, because like a good captain you're going down with the ship.

"Obviously."

Kraven kept screaming, but Peter wasn't paying attention. The escape pods had started leaving; whooshing out of the tubes they were in. It was time to go. Spiderman jumped to the floor and looked at John Jameson. They nodded to each other as John whooshed out of the tube and off the ship.

This was it.

Kraven was still screaming something about dismembering a spider, and while Spiderman gave him one last look, it wasn't for long. He quickly jumped into an open escape pod tube and then leapt right out of the ship. With Kraven stuck he hoped the worst was finally behind him.

The first thing he noticed was the speed.

It was like free fall, wind roaring in his ears and blowing in his face, but the ground was going by instead of getting closer. It wasn't a blur this time, though, and he could see he was over New York City. He also saw the escape pods, the shuttle slowly getting further and further away, and the Empire State Building in the distance below him.

It was time.

Spiderman twisted in the air to web shoot the first escape pod. He aimed carefully, leading the target by several feet to account for their momentum. He managed to snag it, and quickly pulled himself to the metal cylinder.

So far, so good, Peter thought.

Climbing on that one he got his bearings as the pod spun and tumbled through the air. He web shot another and pulled it closer, again leading his target. He managed to stick that one to the other with webbing, making a bonging sound as they collided. Things were going well so far. If this kept up he'd have them tied together well before they reached the Empire State. They were actually starting to fall now, but that was to be expected. He looked towards the next pod, and fired. It shot a line for a moment, before sputtering out.

Oh, right, thought Peter. My shooters have limited web fluid don't they?

In a flash moment he realized what had happened. All that webbing he had scattered in the corridors of the shuttle earlier to keep Kraven off his back had drained his reserves. He'd never used that much webbing at once before.

It's okay, thought Peter, I still have backup web canisters just in case. He tried to pull out one of the small metal tubes, attached to a belt hidden inside his suit, but it slipped from his hand and fell. So far, this wasn't going well. In fact, considering the life or death stakes, it was going very, very badly.

"Come on!" Spiderman cried. "This has to happen now?! Right now?!"

The Empire State was getting closer, much like the ground.

Somehow Spiderman managed to get a tube out of his belt and into his right web shooter. He didn't bother reloading the other one, and as quickly as he could started pulling escape pods in and attaching them together into a cluster. It was difficult to do quickly as the pods, including the pod cluster he was on, were spinning around intensely. Naturally they, like everything else on this ship, weren't designed for such high speeds when they were also in the atmosphere, so they couldn't land normally. That left Spiderman in this position.

He had one pod left.

He could see Empire State Building close by; he had to fire within moments.

He webbed the last pod and yanked it to him.

It stuck on webbing on the side of the pod cluster, but the impact sent them spinning.

Peter knew he had to fire immediately.

He shot his webbing and hoped it would find its target.

A moment of releasing web line.

The web caught, and he grabbed hold.

Spiderman had one line connected to the escape pods and another connected to the empire state building. His stomach lurched as the pods changed direction, starting to wind around the skyscraper. His arms burned trying to hold onto the pod cluster, but somehow he just managed to keep his grip.

The other other thing he had to do was stay conscious.

They wound around the skyscraper several times before they started slowing down. The pods narrowly missed the roofs of the surrounding buildings as they got closer and closer to the ground. Spiderman nearly let go for a few times but he always managed to tighten his grip. A few moments later, when they were closer to the Empire State and going slower, they almost hit the sides of the surrounding buildings, but just barely missed. After a few moments they slowed ever further, and then stopped, crashing into the side of the Empire State. Spiderman held the cluster and looked out. There was a crowd watching, and they were right under him.

"Hey!" he shouted. "Move! This is heavy!"

Nobody moved, but just talked amongst each other.

Peter sighed.

He let the line between his hand and the cluster drop just a little. Everyone jumped, and suddenly people were scrambling to move out of the way. Peter kept thinking, finally, and then dropped the cluster. Fortunately the pods were designed to survive at least a certain level of crash, so this was nothing. They crashed nice and loud, but the pods were otherwise undamaged.

Spiderman climbed down the building, with some difficulty due to the soreness of his limbs, and watched the astronauts climb out of the pods. The astronauts then proceeded to take off their helmets and lie down, and those who tried to stand quickly stumbled and lied down anyway.

When Spiderman got the bottom he found John Jameson, lying on the pavement.

"How is everybody?" asked John.

The astronauts gave the affirmative with what energy they had, and John seemed satisfied.

"Good," said John, who looked at Spiderman. "Thank you, Spiderman. I still don't know who you are, but thank you. You saved our lives."

"Don't sweat it," said Spiderman. "I had the power to help, so I did. Nothing to it."

John laughed, still lying on the pavement. "Take a look in the mirror. It's obvious this whole thing wasn't a cakewalk for you."

Spiderman looked in the reflection of a nearby escape pod porthole and saw that he did indeed look terrible. His suit was charred and black in places, he had dried up gash across his chest, and tears in his suit showed red skin, probably from the superheated generator.

"Point taken," said Spiderman. "But a lot of this damage was my own fault for…you know…leading a psychopath onto the shuttle."

"Hey," said John. "Don't sweat it. You can't control guys like that."

"I guess not," said Spiderman. "After all…psychopaths will be psychopaths."

John started laughing and Spiderman laughed too. Behind the mask Peter kept thinking that this was a good day all things considered. The astronauts were saved, Kraven had crashed with the ship by now and would hopefully be out of commission, and Spiderman still had that plan to turn the Parker household finances around. Hopefully that would work, and it would be the first thing he would check on once he had the chance. Just this once, things had gone, for the most part, as planned for Spiderman.

For the most part anyway.

Spiderman looked over and then saw another astronaut, and unlike the others he wasn't moving at all. He just lay there, his back showing. Spiderman walked over to him.

"Hey buddy?" he said. "You alright?"

Behind him John started counting the astronauts to make certain they were all there.

"Hey?" said Spiderman, though the astronaut didn't respond.

John finished counting and said, with a confused look, "That's not right. There's one more than..."

Spiderman turned over the fallen astronaut, and John got a horrified look on his face.

"Spiderman wait!"

But it was too late. The astronaut jabbed a syringe into Spiderman's arm, making Peter cringe. Spiderman knocked it away, but it was too late. He should have been able to avoid that, but he was weak and disoriented from the landing. He suddenly found the world going blurry. The next thing he knew he had fallen on his side and couldn't move. He had a vague idea of men with guns running out and keeping the nearby crowd at bay while someone started dragging him off.

The last thing Peter remembered seeing was the astronaut taking of his helmet and revealing the white face of the doppelganger who had been working with Kraven. The white face smiled at Peter contentedly, and then everything went dark.


	26. Chapter 26

The Marvelous Spider-Man

Chapter Twenty Six

By

Jason Richard

Peter found himself in a dark room, the only thing visible being a light bulb above him. He was lying spread eagle on a concrete floor, and he couldn't move no matter how hard he tried. By looking at his outstretched arm he found that he was still in his costume, but his mask was off. He didn't like that one bit, but being unable to move left him unable to do anything about it. All he could do was make a small, throaty noise that sounded vaguely like human speech.

"Is somebody there?" he asked hoarsely.

Dmitri appeared over him, his white face uncovered.

"You," said Spiderman. "The…(cough)…doppelganger…."

"Doppelganger?" asked Dmitri, amused. "A fitting name I suppose, but I prefer to be called The Chameleon. Doppelganger just sounds so unprofessional for a spy. Anyway, how are you feeling?"

Spiderman struggled to speak with whatever this Chameleon had injected him with.

"How…did you get on…on the…"

"On the shuttle?" asked Dmitri, surprised, and then he started to laugh, slowly at first, and then more intensely. "Me? On the shuttle? Hidden with the astronauts? I'm flattered that you could think that, but I'm not like you and Kraven. I deal in subtlety and subterfuge, not strength and agility. No, I could never have gotten onto that shuttle the way you did."

"Then how…"

"Simple," said Chameleon. "I had men working on the shuttle's flight plan from the beginning. Originally its orbit would only bring it near the Empire State building a single time, but after your boarded that changed. You were to pass that building three times now. Considering this, and the fact that this particular building was instrumental in getting aboard the shuttle in the first place, it was simply logical to assume that you would use the building when you got back down…and I was right. All I had to do was wait for you there, and when the crowd scattered to escape the falling pod cluster, no one noticed one more astronaut make his way to the scene and lie down with the others. A simple plan, but effective…no?"

Peter felt his heart sink. It was simple. Less simple that Peter's plan had been anyway, and yet this Chameleon's plan had gone off without a hitch, while Peter's had just barely succeeded. Peter knew he still had a lot to learn about this whole superhero business…but he had to wonder if he would ever have the chance to learn it now.

"So…" said Peter, a little less hoarsely than before. "What now? Use me to make an army of spider soldiers?"

"Something like that," said Dmitri. "But not by me anyway. I'm just a mask for hire really. All I have to do is deliver you to my employer so he can run his experiments on you and…yes…probably make an army of neogenic soldiers. At least, that was what I was going to do…for reasons I cannot fathom my employer has decided that a sample of your blood will be sufficient for his work."

Dmitri pulled a vial filled with blood out of his suit.

"You should count yourself lucky. Men in his world often have their business in mind more than anything else, and it is rare that they should put anything ahead of that."

The Chameleon put the vial back into his suit and began to walk away.

"As for your identity, don't worry, I won't reveal it to anyone else. I, of all people, know how to respect a man who wears a mask. Farewell for now, Spider. I have a feeling we shall meet again."

A moment later the lights went out, and Peter found himself in darkness before falling unconscious again.

**….**

Norman Osborn watched the laboratory from the sterile safety room high above. Below him, behind five inch safety glass, the scientists worked on his latest product. He had a stern expression, which he felt appropriate. After all, the scientists were now working on what was probably the most important scientific field in the modern world.

Neogenics.

"I have arrived Mr. Osborn," said the Chameleon behind him.

"Welcome Dmitri," said Osborn, still watching the lab below. "I'm pleased. The blood sample proves promising, as do the flower samples we managed to obtain. Kraven's serum and Spiderman's blood. Two examples of spontaneous neogenics available to me now. You did well."

Norman turned around to see Chameleon, and was surprised to see a white face. Then he realized that it wasn't the Chameleon's normal face, but a white mask that resembled it. Unlike his usual masks it didn't resemble a face at all. This one was obviously made of cloth and could be easily identified as a mask.

"Why Dmitri," said Norman, puzzled. "When you requested, for your services, surgery to give yourself a normal appearance, I assumed that you would put this image behind you."

"Not at all," said Chameleon, amused. "I enjoy the notoriety this image gives me. The point of having a normal face was not to have a normal life. Not by any stretch of the imagination. However, even spies have private lives, no matter how hard they try, and it is difficult to live that life when you are this easily recognizable. When it comes to private lives masks only get you so far. I am the Chameleon, after all, and a normal face, to me, is just another way to blend in. Of course, even if that wasn't the case I would still need to hide my face until the scars healed. I did just finish the surgery an hour ago, after all."

"I see," said Norman, pouring some wine from a nearby table. "And yet you're standing here as if it were nothing." He chuckled. "You're a tougher man than you seem Dmitri…and a very interesting one as well."

"Thank you sir," said Chameleon, accepting a glass of wine from Norman. "But now that I've answered your question, would you answer one of mine? Why did you decide you no longer needed the Spider whole?"

After taking a sip, Norman replied. "Well, it is true that a dissection would have yielded more information than a blood sample alone. However, the addition of the flower makes that no longer necessary. At least, that's what I've told my staff. As an ex spy, I'm sure you could tell that I was lying."

"Naturally," grinned the Chameleon, taking a sip of the wine.

"The truth is," said Norman. "The identity of Spiderman changed my mind."

The Chameleon looked puzzled. "What does this Peter Parker have to do with you?"

"Didn't you know?" asked Norman, matter-of-factly. "He's friends with my son."

"Really?" asked the Chameleon, amused. "Are you really telling me that you couldn't bring yourself to harm this Parker boy because he's friends with your son?"

Norman laughed. "You make it sound like I'm going soft, but the truth is more complicated than that, I assure you. It really about connections. One of the ways I became as rich as I did was by making connections with the right people. Harry needs to learn this to, and someone who is a hero in the public eye could potentially be of use to anyone who had the mind. As a father I would be ashamed to take such an opportunity away from him."

The Chameleon frowned. "I suppose as a father you aren't ashamed to not teach him such lessons yourself?"

"I had to learn on my own," said Normal casually. "And so must he. He won't get anywhere with me babying him. Why do you ask?"

Why indeed, thought Dmitri. After all, he was a spy. Why should he care about another man's son? Even if their relationship reminded him of the time he spent with his own father, long ago.

"Just curious," smirked the Chameleon. "Oh, by the way, a private face is something I would like to keep hidden, so I would appreciate it if the doctors who worked on my face are…taken care of."

"Naturally," said Norman. "Don't' worry. By this time tomorrow you will be the only person who knows of the Chameleon's true face. It's a shame though, they do their work so quickly and efficiently. Still, only the best can be used on the best. Right Dmitri?"

"I couldn't have said it better myself," Chameleon replied.

The Chameleon bowed after finishing his wine and took his leave. Norman then turned around and walked over to a table with a potted flower; the kind of flower used to make Kraven's serum. The flower in question was blue, with red marks reminiscent of blood veins. Norman took a sniff of the flowers aroma. It smelled like a flower mixed with blood.

It is a beautiful thing, this flower, thought Norman, and so is the Spider's blood. I'll be sure to use them both well.

He grinned.

**….**

Peter had woken up on a rooftop, completely abandoned. Groggy and disoriented, it had taken him a while to remember what had happened. Once he remembered he still couldn't make any sense of it. Why had this Chameleon just left him like that? Was this whole thing really just about a sample of his blood? Strangely enough, he was certain Kraven had wanted more than that, aside from his psychopathic need to hunt people.

There was more to this than met the eye, but he didn't have time to worry about it.

Peter walked home through the neighborhood slowly, trying to think of how he was going to explain all of this to Aunt May. It was pretty late in the afternoon, so Peter had been gone for far longer than he knew he should have been. Fortunately it turned out that he had only been unconscious for a couple of hours, so it wasn't as if Aunt May had called the police for a missing person. Still, the conversation he had ahead of him was probably going to the hardest thing he had ever done in his life.

It made the prospect of fighting Kraven again seem trivial by comparison.

He was almost home, and he was still dreading what was to come. He was also dreading trying to explain things to Gwen and harry, but that would have to come later. Difficult things are best done one at a time so you can manage them.

Another good piece of advice from his Uncle Ben.

He reached the front door and waited. The lights were on, so he knew Aunt May was home. He tried to think of what he would say to her, but nothing seemed adequate. Everything he thought of sounded like an excuse, and he just couldn't deal with that. All he could do was tell the truth. He took a deep breath, opened the door, and stepped inside.

This is it, Peter thought.


	27. Chapter 27

The Marvelous Spider-Man

Chapter Twenty Seven

By

Jason Richard

The news report talked about the shuttle crash.

"Thankfully," said the reporter. "The shuttle crashed in the North Atlantic Ocean, causing no casualties as far as we know. As for pieces of the shuttle that broke off it seems billionaire Tony Stark, AKA Iron Man had a contingency plan for that very event, which he predicted when the shuttle first launched. All pieces that broke off activated a prototype nanotechnology that caused it to disintegrate. Apart from complaints of steel dust pollution no one was harmed by the shuttle breaking apart. Tony Stark had no comment, except for a message for NASA, saying, "I told you so." Reports of a crime spike during the shuttle's crash have been confirmed, however it seemed someone tipped off police captain George Stacy to the spike. Cops have been patrolling the city more so than usual and have managed to bring a little order back to the city. Despite Spiderman's capture after he and the astronauts landed, Spiderman has been seen swinging through the city, which has caused the crime spike to, finally, end, putting some relieve on our strained police forces. The captain of the shuttle, John Jameson, did sit down for an interview, and commented saying that he was glad no one was hurt, and had some words of praise for the rookie superhero known as Spiderman saying…"

Aunt May turned off the television, sitting back on the couch with a sigh. She was glad no one was hurt. That meant that she could stop feeling guilty about her own problems. Now that it was over, she remembered why she had been feeling so sad lately.

Peter. He'd been so distant lately. Ever since Ben died. She found herself crying every night, wishing Ben were there, and that Peter would stop turning away. After all…

Peter was all she had left.

She was on the verge of crying again when Peter walked in. She looked up at him and gasped to see him. He looked like he was sunburnt…or rather it was worse than that. However, she did not suspect Peter of being near a superheated engine on a shuttle going at impossibly high speeds, so she only had one explanation for his appearance.

"Peter?" she asked. "Did you forget to put on sunscreen?"

Peter looked at her with a very surprised look for a few moments. Eventually he said, with some hesitation, "Yes…Yes I did."

There was an awkward moment of silence between them, but eventually Peter spoke up.

"Aunt May," he said, "There's…there's something that I…I…I need to tell you."

Aunt May looked at him curiously…and just a little hopefully. Peter hesitated for a moment, not certain how to say this. However, he knew it had to be said, so he came right out and told her the truth.

"I did something about the money situation."

Aunt May felt that few things could have surprised her more than what Peter had just said. In fact the only thing she could think of that fit the bill was if Peter had just said he was Spiderman. She was glad that wasn't what he had said though.

That would have given her a heart attack.

"So…you know?" she asked timidly.

"Of course," said Peter. "Well…not of course…I mean…Well…yeah."

This is going well, thought Peter sarcastically.

"But…" said Aunt May. "You did something? What?"

Peter didn't say anything. He just pulled something out of his shirt. Fortunately Peter found his bag where he left it after he woke up. That bag was with his costume, away from where Aunt May might see it, but Peter had taken the time to get something out of that bag. Namely, his camera…along with some pictures he had taken. He now showed those pictures to his Aunt. She took them in her hands and looked at them curiously.

They were pictures of Spiderman, waiting at the top of the Empire State Building, taken before Kraven had arrived.

"I don't understand," said Aunt May.

"You know people have had a hard time capturing Spiderman for a photo or on video right?" said Peter. "Well I…I found a way to do it. Don't ask me how…It's a bit much to explain but…well…I got pictures of him and…went to a newspaper. They paid me, Aunt May.

Peter brought out a wallet from his pocket. Inside was a check. He handed the check to Aunt May and she examined it. He almost gasped. It was enough, just barely enough to pay the bills."

"Peter," she said, astonished. "No one expects you to do this. You're still young after all. You have school and…"

"Aunt May," said Peter quickly. "Uncle Ben once told me that sometimes people have to do things that they shouldn't have to. When that happens to you, it's usually better to just swallow your pride and do it anyway instead of wasting your time complaining that you shouldn't have to do it. After everything that's happened, I think I need to start taking his advice more seriously than I have been. Right Aunt May?"

Aunt May began tremble, and then cry. Peter hugged her, not knowing what else to do. Somehow that seemed to calm her down, so Peter thought that maybe it was enough.

"I don't like it either Aunt May," said Peter. "But we'll get through this. I'm sorry I've been so distant but…I just want to make up for that. For everything."

And he really meant everything. Aunt May felt happier than she had in a long time. Her nephew Peter was a good boy after all. He somehow managed to make her feel better.

Just like Ben could.

"Oh Peter," said Aunt May. "I think you have taken after your uncle after all."

"I hope so Aunt May," said Peter. "I hope so."

They hugged for a while, letting Aunt May finish crying.

**….**

Gwen and Harry stared in shock at the picture in the newspaper, though it wasn't the picture that made them shocked. True, it was interesting to see what Spiderman actually looked like, but it was the name under the picture that really took their breath away.

"Photo taken by Peter Parker."

"So…" said Gwen nervously. "This is why you've been late for things lately?"

"Yes," said Peter. "I can honestly say that Spiderman is the reason I've been unable to keep my promises…and I'm sorry about this. About everything."

They stood in the Osborn Apartment, top floor of the Oscorp building, the light of the morning streaming in. Peter waited for their reaction, holding his breath like he was on trial. Harry just looked at the paper open mouthed, but Gwen eventually rolled up the paper, walked over to paper, and softly hit him over the head with it.

"Yeah," said Peter. "I know I deserved that."

"Peter," Said Gwen, shaking her head. "If your family was having money problems you should have told us. I'm sure Harry could help with that, couldn't you Harry?" She turned to him expecting an enthusiastic answer.

"Well," said Harry, shifting nervously. "I would if I could but…It's not really my money is it? It's my dad's…and he only gives me twenty dollars for allowance. He's not that big a fan of charity you know?"

"Oh," said Gwen. "Right. Even so," she turned back to Peter. "You should have told us."  
"I know," said Peter, "and I want to make up for everything. I just…"

"Have a lot of responsibilities right now?" said Gwen, nodding her head. "Don't worry. I understand."

"Yeah Pete," said Harry. "And we'll do whatever we can to help."

They smiled at him warmly and Peter suddenly felt overwhelmed. He looked away and rubbed his hair nervously. "Man, I really don't deserve friends like you."

Gwen put her hand on his shoulder. "Don't talk like that. Come on, let's go do something fun."

"Yeah," said Harry. "You're that your actually here."

Peter sighed happily. "You know, that sound great."

**….**

**Office of the Daily Bugle. Before Peter met his Aunt.**

"Kid," said Jonah Jameson, "I don't know which is more astonishing. These pictures, or your face."

"Yeah," said Peter, red faced with skin peeling as he sat across from Jameson in his office. "I spent too much time in the sun getting these pictures."

Jameson just grunted as he studied Peter's photos. Peter waited with baited breath, and then Jameson gave him answer.

"I'll be honest kid," said Jameson gruffly. "These photos are amateurish. It's obvious a complete rookie took them. That being said these are the only photos that have come across my desk where I can tell what this clown looks like, so you get the internship. Congratulations."

Peter suddenly became very suspicious. "Internship?" said Peter. "The ad said job…"

"Internship is a job," said Jameson grumpily.

"One that doesn't pay," said Peter.

"You get your prize money," said Jameson. "But I can't pay salary to an amateur. What do you take me for?"

"Then I'll take my money elsewhere," said Peter flatly. "Give me the photos back."

He reached out his hand but Jameson pulled the photos back and said, "Kid, we've met before, and you wouldn't take my money then. You wouldn't be here unless you were desperate."

Peter dropped his hand and clenched his fist. "Alright," he said. "Fine. You were my last choice. But the other papers asked too many questions. If everyone knew how to get Spiderman's picture, they wouldn't need me."

Jameson did something unexpected. He grinned.

"So," said Jameson. "The magician doesn't want to reveal his secrets, eh? I like that. Tell you what, these photos are the work of an amateur, but I wouldn't put them in my paper if they were _complete_ garbage. You take an internship as a photographer here and I'll pay you the same thing I'm paying now for any pictures of Spiderman you bring me when he does something newsworthy. Is that a deal or what?"

Jameson seemed pleased with himself, but Peter could only think of how he was getting the short end of the stick. Still, he had nothing better to do with these photos.

"Sure," said Peter.

"Sure?" asked Jameson. "What's 'sure' mean? This is a once in a lifetime deal!"

"Yes," said Peter. "That's the problem. I'm worried you'll only pay me once in a lifetime."

Jameson growled. "Don't tempt me. I'll take these, and Miss Brant will give you your check on your way out."

Peter waited.

"On your way out," Jameson emphasized.

"Right," said Peter. "I'll just let your get to your Spiderman bashing."

"Please," said Jameson with a sarcastic grin.

Peter left the office and sighed. He'd wished for better, but it was still something, even though it came with baggage known as J. Jonah Jameson. The only thing that could possible make him put up with that guy was his thought that he needed to take care of his Aunt.

He was going to get his check from someone who he noticed was a very attractive female secretary (such a cliché) when he saw John Jameson coming his way in a suit.

"John Jameson?" asked Peter suddenly.

John looked at him strangely. "Have we met?" he asked.

Yes, Peter thought. "No," Peter said. "I just saw you on TV."

"Oh," said John. "Who are you anyway? You look a little young to work here. Besides, my dad's never liked kids."

That confused Peter. "Aren't you his kid?"

John shrugged and said with a grin. "Let's just say he'd never be caught dead saying 'I'll always be his baby.'"

At the image of that sour old man saying something like that, Peter had to stifle a giggle.

"I see that," said Peter. "But as for me, I'm here dropping off pictures of Spiderman."

"Really?" said John. "That's surprising. Still, I guess a teenager getting photos of Spiderman is less surprising than Spiderman himself."

Peter just nodded, and then asked. "Say, what do you think of Spiderman? I know you're dad hates his guts." And Peter had to admit. "Not without reason…"

"So I've heard," said John. "And I've heard a lot of other things about him too. His good points…and bad." When John said that, the bank robbery immediately entered Peter's mind. "But I think this Spiderman is just trying to do the right thing, even if he doesn't always know what that is. In that way he's just like the rest of us. I'm certainly one to judge."

"What do you mean?" asked Peter.

"I was the one who insisted the shuttle launch before it was ready," said John. "I put a lot of people in danger…just because my ego thought I could handle it. Imagine that…'John Jameson pilots super-fast shuttle' turns to 'John Jameson crashes shuttle.' It's kind of embarrassing really."

"Then why tell me?" asked Peter curiously.

"It's no secret," said John. "I plan to issue a public apology over it anyway…if only to stop Mr. Tony Stark from saying I told you so every five minutes. I've got to own up to my mistakes after all."

Peter couldn't help but crack a smile.

"Good for you dude," said Peter.

"Thanks," said John. "Mr…"

"Peter Parker," said Peter. "Nice to meet you. I'll be around."

"Sure," said John. "Nice to meet you."

And Peter left, still smiling. He'd felt crummy a moment ago, but somehow he felt better…now that he knew he wasn't the only screw-up in the world. He also felt relieved that John Jameson was alright. He was a nice guy.

Peter figured he had to take after his mom…who must have been an amazing woman to put up with that J.J. Jameson.


	28. Chapter 28

The Marvelous Spider-Man

Chapter Twenty Eight

By

Jason Richard

The day had finally come.

Uncle Ben was to be buried.

Peter found himself in the kitchen, dressed in his suit, waiting for Aunt May to finish getting dressed. He felt nervous for some reason. He didn't know why he should. After all, it wasn't as if he was expected to say a eulogy or something. He just planned to say a final farewell to his uncle that he would try to say in private, and that somehow made him really nervous.

He tried to think of something else. Consequently he found himself looking at the Daily Bugle on the table. It read, "Spiderman Leads Madman Aboard Shuttle, Endangers Crew."

"That figures," said Peter. Even when Spiderman saves his son, J. J. Jameson want's to bash Spiderman.

He sighed.

The funeral itself was very surreal for Peter. He'd been getting used to his Uncle not being there for a while now, but actually seeing him lying there, dead in the casket, was still such a strange feeling. Peter also saw a bunch of relatives and old friends of his uncle that he had never known when Uncle Ben was alive. Of course his Aunt was there, and both Harry and Gwen were there for moral support, all dressed in black Sunday clothes. Despite all of those people there, however, there was only one person who really mattered.

After it was all over, he stayed and watched the actual burial, and when that was over, he asked for some time alone, just to say a few words.

So there he was, standing over a freshly buried grave..

"Hey Uncle Ben," said Peter. "I just wanted to talk. I guess I would have rather have had one last talk while you were alive, but I guess this will have to do. One last…I guess father son talk. I know I was just your nephew…but no point worrying about technicalities right?"

He laughed nervously, and then felt uncomfortable in the silence. He wished Uncle Ben's voice or his ghost would rise up from the grave just so he could talk to him. Heck, Peter figured he'd take a zombie…just so long as it talked to him instead of trying to eat his brain.

The next moment, Peter was mentally kicking himself for putting humor in his head at such an inappropriate moment.

"Listen," said Peter. "I just wanted to say that…I'm sorry for everything. You said something important, even though you didn't realize it was meant for me, and I didn't listen. I thought I had been doing so well…you know? It had been a long time since you had last given me advice, so I guess I thought I didn't need it anymore…that I was all grown up. But I realize now that…I still have a ways to go…especially compared to you. I can't get it out of my head but…the day you died all you could think about was how it would affect Aunt May and I, even as you…well you know."

Peter tried to imagine how Uncle Ben would have responded to this, but nothing he thought of seemed right. He took a deep sigh, thinking about how much he was really going to hiss his Uncle.

"I promise," said Peter. "I'm going to live up to that responsibility you were worried about. I'm going to take care of Aunt May, and I'm going to use my powers to help anyone I can.

"With Great Power comes great responsibility. I understand what that means now, and I'll never forget it. So thank you Uncle Ben. Thank you for everything."

Peter didn't really know why, but somehow he imagined Uncle Ben being proud of him. He felt like he did when his Uncle praised him on a good report card, or when he won the science fair. It was probably nothing though…just his imagination. Still, he wished it were true, for everything that Peter had said, he meant. With that, Peter only had one thing left to say.

"Goodbye Uncle Ben," he said, before turning around and walking away.

As he walked towards his Aunt, Gwen, and Harry he felt that things were going to get harder after this. After all, he'd have to manage taking pictures, stopping crime, school, his Aunt, and his friends all at once. On top of that there was a sample of Peter's blood out there in some mad scientist's laboratory, which meant that there would likely be more super powered villains like Kraven to deal with.

He didn't relish the thought.

But then, things were looking up. His friends weren't mad at him anymore, the money situation was at least a little better, even though he got no help from his arch nemesis J. Jonah Jameson. And to top it all off Spiderman was doing some good. Crime rates were the lowest they had ever been in that city, so he figured that work shouldn't take up too much of his time.

No such luck.

It was only a few minutes later that he heard police sirens. Peter found himself ready to follow.

"Where are you going?" asked Gwen.

"Yeah Pete," said Harry. "I'm sure Spiderman will be here tomorrow."

Peter paused, turned back and said, "I'm sorry guys. I know it seems like an odd day but I've got responsibilities now. You know."

Aunt May sighed. "Alright Peter," said Aunt May. "I see that look in your eye. Do what you have to do."

"Thank you Aunt May," said Peter. "I'll see you guys later." They all waved at him, pleasantly, even thought they were a little sad for him.

"I think he'll be alright," said Harry.

"Always the optimist," said Gwen. "I don't know how you do it."

"I think Harry is right dear," said Aunt May. "After all," she looked at Peter as he ran off. "Peter does seem very grown up. I think Ben would have been proud of him." And with that they left. Like Peter they felt a little better about everything.

Peter, in full Spiderman costume, found himself swinging to the scene of a bank robbery. Upon entering the bank his Spider Sense told him that the hostages bound several floors up with a bomb in the room. It didn't have a timer, so it was probably remote detonated. The crooks were in the lobby braking into the bank vault with more explosives. Meanwhile the leader of group, his features hidden behind a black cloth mask, was parading up and down like he owned the place.

Spiderman's back was against the wall as he clung to the marble. He watched the crooks solemnly. Spiderman, at one point, was just something Peter did to deal with bullies and because it was kind of cool. It was also something he only did when he felt like it. Not now though. Now he was taking his job seriously.

"We got this in the bag," said the leader. "The cops can't touch us in here, and neither will that Spider freak. We've got the best protection our bombs can buy. Humans shields man. Human shields."

"Wow," said Spiderman, getting everyone's attention. "You sound proud of that. Are you finished bragging about being a huge coward, or were you planning to show off the running shoes you picked for just such an occasion?"

Well, thought Peter, not too serious. I guess some things never change.

The crook tried to bring out his remote detonator, but couldn't find it…until he looked up and saw Spiderman dangling it from a web in his hand.

"I know," said Spiderman. "You lose something and it's always in the last place you think to look."

And with that he swung down to save the hostages and catch the crooks. Just a typical outing for your friendly neighborhood Spiderman. Quips, crooks, and shots fired in his direction.

And Peter wouldn't have it any other way.

The End

Epilogue

Dmitri walked through the prison, trying to ignore the clatter of meaningless conversations between the inmates. He was dressed in a suit, carried a briefcase, and wore his generic dark haired Caucasian male mask. There was no reason to use an elaborate disguise for this particular visit after all. Eventually he came across the cell he was looking for. The guards escorting him told him the usual, that he had only a few minutes, and then stepped back for a moment to give him some privacy.

There, inside that cell, was his half-brother Sergei.

He wasn't looking too well. He had removed the top part of his prison jumpsuit, so that his arms and chest were visible. His whole body was covered in white scars that were pattered like tiger stripes. The oddest thing about him, though, was his behavior. He was on all fours, sniffing around.

It reminded Dmitri of a lion on the hunt.

"Good evening Sergei," said Dmitri in Russian.

Kraven looked up, grinning like a hyena. "Hello brother. Have you brought more of the serum?"

"Naturally," said Dmitri, who opened the briefcase and brought out a vial of blue liquid. "I simply told the guards it was just a placebo and they let me carry it right in."

"Placebo?" asked Kraven curiously as he held the vial, still on his hands and knees.

"Sugar water," said Dmitri. "Given to test subjects who are told they are getting a drug that, for example, cures headaches. In some cases their headaches go away simple because they believe they will. You know…so they can know later if the real drug is actually working, or if their condition is a result of the subjects' expectations."

"I see," said Sergei. "Well, it's a good thing the guards believed you. Amazing how gullible some people can be…eh Dmitri?"

"It certainly is brother," said, Dmitri who had to stifle a laugh.

"Well," said Kraven, greedily drinking the blue fluid. "It is taking me longer than I hoped it would to get back to full strength. I trust you remember how I got off that shuttle?"

"I do," said Dmitri. "You made it off with a steel door stuck to your side. You must have ripped the door off its hinges."

"Of course," said Kraven. "And when I jumped out of the ship and landed in the ocean I had to swim to shore with one arm and one leg free and a weight trying to sink me. By the time I got to shore I was so exhausted that I couldn't even fight the police who were waiting for me. I don't even know what they were doing there."

"The police were patrolling the city in Spiderman's absence," said Dmitri. "Someone must have spotted you."

"I see," said Sergei. "It's so annoying that such weaklings managed to take me in. No matter. Once I have recovered my strength we can continue to hunt for…whatever it was that we were hunting for."

Dmitri found it distracting that Kraven was still on all fours like a wild dog. He also noticed that Sergei had started sniffing around again, like a wild animal hunting for prey. Dmitri grinned a sly yet subtle grin and addressed his brother.

"You don't remember what we were hunting?" said Dmitri.

"Strangely enough no," said Sergei. "Every time I think of hunting I think of meat. Not trophies, but actual raw meat. Though perhaps it is not so unusual. I would appreciate some venison instead of the awful food they have here. Still, it is strange that I can't remember what we were hunting before. In fact I can't seem to remember most of my other hunts. All I can think about it is meat. Even now, I'm sniffing around as if I smell meat, and I feel the urge to hunt it and eat it, but the only living things around here are people. I wonder what is happening to me."

He was still sniffing around the cell, and Dmitri had to stifle a laugh.

"Well brother," said Dmitri as Sergei sniffed around. "Some might say that the effects of your serum are wearing off. You see this serum, if you stop taking it, not only takes away that wonderful strength, it takes something else as well. It's ironic really. Taking the serum only gives you the strength of an animal, while those who stop taking it are left with but the intelligence and instincts of an animal. If you were to stop taking the serum, you might very well lose the ability to use human speech."

"You say something brother?" said Sergei, still sniffing around.

As good a listener as ever, thought Dmitri. "Nothing brother," he said. "Enjoy your placebo."

Sergei didn't respond as Dmitri walked away. Dmitri figured he wouldn't need to come back. Kraven was powerless now. Besides, by the time he came back Sergei would probably have forgotten his name. Sure enough, that night when the other prisoners were going to sleep, Kraven's mind had degenerated to nothing more than two words.

"Hunt," and "Hungry."

And he snarled like a beast in the darkness.

Special Thanks

To Stan Lee and Marvel Comics for creating one of the most awesome superheroes in the world.

To the fans of this story who gave their support during this story's run.

And if there are those of you who read this story and see it as a work of great talent, then I thank my God in heaven for that talent.

Thank you all.

-The Author of this Fanfic.


End file.
